Many actors who appeared in The Walking Dead have gone on to become huge stars and reach new levels of fame. As AMC’s flagship series, The Walking Dead featured a huge ensemble cast, forming a group of survivors who band together during a zombie apocalypse to stay alive under near-constant threats from the undead “Walkers” and human antagonists alike. While some cast members from The Walking Dead are exploring new stories in the growing franchise, several others have become household names and have moved on to even bigger projects.

Some extremely talented actors have passed through The Walking Dead and its spinoffs, many of which were well-known before joining the post-apocalyptic series. The likes of Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Michael Rooker, Melissa McBride, Norman Reedus, and more had already appeared in prominent projects before assuming major roles in The Walking Dead, but others used the eleven-season-long series as a springboard. These stars became very famous after appearing in The Walking Dead, and continue to develop their varied careers to this day.

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10) Andrew Lincoln

Okay, we’re starting with a bit of a cheat. Andrew Lincoln was pretty well-known prior to being cast in The Walking Dead, most notably as Mark, the videographer with the cue cards who loved Keira Knightley’s recently-married Juliet in Richard Curtis’ iconic 2003 Holiday rom-com, Love Actually. However, Lincoln became a household name after debuting as Rick Grimes in The Walking Dead, the leader of the Atlanta/Alexandria survivors and the co-star of The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live. The series sky-rocketed him to new levels of fame and notoriety.

9) Kerry Condon

Before starring as Stacey in Better Call Saul, Siobhán in The Banshees of Inisherin, and FRIDAY in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Irish actor Kerry Condon had an important role in The Walking Dead. Condon appeared in four episodes of The Walking Dead season 4 as Clara, a survivor who tried to feed Rick to her undead husband. Clara introduced the central theme of season 4, questioning whether one can be redeemed . Condon has gone from strength to strength since her The Walking Dead appearance, and will next be seen in Anthony Maras’ Pressure alongside Andrew Scott and Brendan Fraser.

8) Sonequa Martin-Green

Sonequa Martin-Green had starred in a number of independent movies prior to debuting in The Walking Dead season 3 as Sasha Williams, a role that she played for five years before Sasha sacrificed herself to become a weapon in the war against Negan (Morgan). Since then, Martin-Green has become even more well-known as Michael Burnham in Star Trek: Discovery, and has had roles in New Girl, Once Upon a Time, Invincible, and Space Jam: A New Legacy, among others. Her career is continuing to develop in some exciting ways even eight years after she left The Walking Dead.

7) Corey Hawkins

Corey Hawkins’ The Walking Dead career was short-lived, but the series was the perfect platform for him. Hawkins portrayed Heath in The Walking Dead season 6 until he mysteriously disappeared. Hawkins only appeared in four episodes of The Walking Dead before moving on to some major movies, including Straight Outta Compton, Kong: Skull Island, BlacKkKlansman, In the Heights, The Tragedy of Macbeth, The Color Purple, and more. Hawkins’ career is set to grow even further with upcoming roles in Nadia Latif’s The Man in My Basement, Bart Layton’s Crime 101, and, most excitingly, Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey in 2026.

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6) Lauren Ridloff

Following only two on-screen roles, deaf actor Lauren Ridloff was cast in The Walking Dead as Connie, a survivor introduced following season 9’s six-year time jump. She portrayed Connie for 30 episodes, exploring a tender relationship with Daryl (Reedus), and has since gone on to even bigger projects. This includes roles in New Amsterdam, Sound of Metal, and Accused, but Ridloff is surely now best known as the MCU’s first deaf superhero, the speedster Makkari from 2021’s Eternals. Ridloff’s MCU future might be uncertain, but there’s no doubt that this is just the beginning for the talented actor.

5) Cailey Fleming

Young actor Cailey Fleming first gained recognition as a young Rey (Daisy Ridley) in 2015’s Star Wars: The Force Awakens, but it was Judith Grimes, debuting in The Walking Dead season 9, that gave her even more notoriety. Fleming starred as Judith, Rick and Lori’s (Sarah Wayne Callies) daughter, in 32 episodes of The Walking Dead, and has since appeared in the MCU’s Loki series as a young Sylvie (Sophia Di Martino), and, most recently, in IF alongside John Krasinski and Ryan Reynolds. At only 18-years-old, Fleming has a huge career ahead of her thanks to The Walking Dead.

4) Colman Domingo

Okay, one more cheat. Colman Domingo didn’t appear in The Walking Dead, but he played the central character of Victor Strand in the series’ first spinoff, Fear the Walking Dead. Domingo regularly played bit-roles beforehand, but he has emphasized how Fear the Walking Dead saved his career. Since, Domingo has starred in many remarkable projects, including If Beale Street Could Talk, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, Candyman, Euphoria, The Color Purple, Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man, Rustin, Sing Sing, and more, and earned back-to-back Academy Award nominations for the latter two, cementing himself as one of the greatest actors of his generation.

3) Danai Gurira

Danai Gurira had an incredible stage career before debuting in The Walking Dead season 3 in 2012 as Michonne, a lone survivor who becomes a central character. Gurira portrayed Michonne until season 10, and then returned in The Ones Who Live alongside Andrew Lincoln. Since then, she has starred, most notably, as the Wakandan Dora Milaje warrior Okoye in the MCU, appearing in some of the highest-grossing movies in history. She is set to expand her career in Sam Hargrave’s Matchbox in 2026 and Michael B. Jordan’s The Thomas Crown Affair in 2027, so Gurira’s future is very bright.

2) Jon Bernthal

Jon Bernthal was central to the early days of The Walking Dead, as he starred as Shane Walsh, Rick Grimes’ partner in the King County Sheriff’s department who leads the Atlanta survivors until Rick returns. Shane became one of The Walking Dead’s original antagonists, earning Bernthal a huge amount of praise that has led to him accepting some incredible roles in the years since. Most prominently, Bernthal stars as the MCU’s Frank Castle, the Punisher, but he has also earned an Emmy Award for his brief role in The Bear, and has appeared in major movies including The Wolf of Wall Street, Sicario, Baby Driver, King Richard, and more, while he’s set to soon appear in The Odyssey and Spider-Man: Brand New Day.

1) Steven Yeun

Few actors from The Walking Dead have reached the level of success that Steven Yeun has accomplished since his brutal departure in the premiere of season 7. Glenn Rhee was Yeun’s first major on-screen role, but, in the years since, he has taken on acclaimed roles in the likes of I Origins, Okja, Sorry to Bother You, Nope, Invincible, and Mickey 17, among others. However, it was Lee Sung Jin’s Beef that earned Yeun his first Emmy, Golden Globe, and Screen Actors Guild Awards, while Lee Isaac Chung’s Minari saw Yeun nominated for Best Actor at the Academy Awards, and his exciting career shows no sign of slowing down anytime soon.

Who are your favorite actors who became famous after appearing in The Walking Dead? Let us know in the comments!

The post 10 Actors in The Walking Dead Before They Were Famous appeared first on ComicBook.com.

There are many more spinoffs of The Walking Dead we still want to explore after Daryl Dixon, Dead City, and The Ones Who Live. In the 15 years since its premiere in October 2010, The Walking Dead has become the most successful zombie apocalypse TV series ever, spanning not only the parent show, which ran for 11 seasons until its 2022 finale, and several spinoff shows. Despite spawning an entire TV franchise, we still want to see the world of The Walking Dead explored in even more detail.

The first The Walking Dead spinoff, Fear the Walking Dead, explored the early days of the apocalypse in Los Angeles. Since then, The Walking Dead: World Beyond, The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon, The Walking Dead: Dead City, Tales of the Walking Dead, and The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live have all expanded the franchise into some thrilling new places. While Rick Grimes, Michonne, Daryl Dixon, Negan, Maggie, and more have already been the focus of spinoffs, there are even more potential shows we’d love to see that could perfectly follow The Walking Dead.

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7) Connie and Kelly’s Story

Sisters Connie and Kelly debuted in The Walking Dead season 9, episode 5, “What Comes After,” following the six-year time-jump in the wake of Rick Grimes’ apparent demise – he later returned in The Ones Who Live. Lauren Ridloff and Angel Theory’s survivors were rescued by Judith Grimes and given safe harbor in Alexandria, and later in the Commonwealth. Connie and Kelly were the subject of some intense and heartfelt storylines in The Walking Dead, but little of their backstory has been revealed, and we’d also love to see more of their new lives in the Commonwealth as investigative journalists.

6) King Ezekiel’s Origin Story

Khary Payton’s Ezekiel, the former leader of the Kingdom and the new Governor of the Commonwealth, also deserves a prequel miniseries. Ezekiel detailed his backstory to Carol (Melissa McBride) in one of his early appearances, including his passion for community theater, where he regularly played kings and leaders. His work as a zookeeper saw him build a bond with Shiva the tiger, who stood by his side until her death. It would be brilliant to see these chapters in Ezekiel’s story play out on-screen, especially since his new Commonwealth role makes him one of the new world’s most important figures.

5) Dr. Jenner and the CDC’s Response

Despite only making a brief appearance in The Walking Dead season 1, and then a cameo appearance in The Walking Dead: World Beyond, Edwin Jenner is one of The Walking Dead’s most crucial characters. A spinoff could explore the apocalypse’s early days from the perspective of those in the CDC, which Jenner teased in season 1’s finale, “TS-19.” This series could explain the science behind the zombie apocalypse – how it started, what might have caused it – while Noah Emmerich’s cameo in Walking Dead: World Beyond teased he knew more about the virus’ evolution, which a spinoff could explore further.

4) Villains Prequel Series

The Walking Dead’s most terrifying villains also deserve more focus. Many antagonistic forces and characters have been seen throughout The Walking Dead’s 11 seasons, so it would be great to see the likes of the Governor (David Morrissey), the Claimers, the Terminus cannibals, the staff of Grady Memorial Hospital, the Scavengers, the Wolves, Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) and the Sanctuary, the Whisperers, the Miltons, and more get developed further. This could take the form of an anthology series in the vein of Tales of the Walking Dead, showing us the villains of the world didn’t all start as evil figures.

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3) Abraham, Eugene, and Rosita’s Origins

Making their first appearance in The Walking Dead season 4, episode 10, “Inmates,” Michael Cudlitz, Josh McDermitt, and Christian Serratos brought three of the comic series’ most iconic characters to life. Abraham, Eugene, and Rosita proved crucial in pushing the narrative to Washington DC – though Eugene’s purpose was soon revealed to be a lie. The trio have teased their adventures prior to finding Glenn (Steven Yeun) and Tara (Alanna Masterson), but we’ve never seen their backstory on-screen, even though this would be the fantastic focus of a spinoff – and it would be great to see Cudlitz return to the franchise.

2) Telltale’s The Walking Dead Adaptation

Originally released in 2012 and spawning a video game franchise of its own, many have been calling for a live-action adaptation of Telltale Games’ The Walking Dead for years. The first game focuses on convicted criminal Lee Everett, who becomes guardian to the young Clementine in the apocalypse’s early days. The second, third, and fourth games focused on Clementine as she embarks on new adventures, creating a huge wealth of material for a live-action adaptation. The games even feature appearances from several well-known characters, including Hershel, Glenn, Jesus, and more, so would make the perfect spinoff to The Walking Dead.

1) Revisit Alexandria After Rick’s Return

Andrew Lincoln left the main The Walking Dead series during season 9, then planned to take part in a trilogy of movies. These became The Ones Who Live, where Rick Grimes and Michonne (Danai Gurira) fought and succeeded to reform the CRM in The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live, allowing the pair to return home where Rick emotionally reunited with their children. We desperately want to see the aftermath of this reunion brought to the screen, and this could be seen in a spinoff series that perhaps marks the convergence of all the recent spinoff shows.

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Rick might be back in Alexandria, but Daryl Dixon (Norman Reedus) and Carol Peletier still don’t know about that. With their own spinoff coming to an end with a fourth and final season, and Dead City being renewed for a third season, it would be great for these upcoming chapters to come together in a new spinoff or a possible The Walking Dead season 12. The Walking Dead franchise shouldn’t end after these recent spinoffs do – there are many more stories to be told in this world.

What spinoffs from The Walking Dead do you want to see next? Let us know in the comments!

The post 7 More Walking Dead Spinoffs We Want After Daryl Dixon & Dead City appeared first on ComicBook.com.

Scott M. Gimple is paying tribute to late Walking Dead actress Kelley Mack, who died on Saturday at the age of 33 after a battle with glioma of the central nervous system. Gimple, who served as showrunner on seasons 4 through 8 of the AMC zombie drama before he was promoted to the network’s chief content officer of The Walking Dead Universe, fondly remembered Mack as part of the TWD family.

“Sad news about a massively talented member of the TWD family,” he wrote in a post on X. “We’re grateful we got to work with Kelley Mack and share her magic with the world.”

Mack played Addy, a member of the Hilltop Colony, on the acclaimed ninth season of The Walking Dead showran by executive producer Angela Kang. Mack’s Addeline appeared in five episodes between 2018 and 2019, befriending Henry (Matt Lintz) and welcoming him into a friend group that included Gage (Jackson Pace) and Rodney (Joe Ando Hirsh).

All original characters to the TV series based on the comic book by writer Robert Kirkman and artists Tony Moore and Charlie Adlard, Addy, Henry, and Rodney were among the 10 victims murdered by the Whisperers in the season 9 episode “The Calm Before.” (Mack’s Addy was partially inspired by Anna, a minor character with a crush on Carl Grimes in the comics.)

Mack’s co-star, Alanna Masterson, who played Tara until “The Calm Before,” remembered Mack as “an incredible human,” writing in a tribute, “So proud to have fought alongside her in our final episode together.”

In addition to her role on The Walking Dead, Mack made appearances on such television series as 9-1-1, Schooled, and Chicago Med. She also performed the voice match for Hailee Steinfeld’s Gwen Stacy/Spider-Gwen in 2018’s Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, and voiced Spider-Gwen in a Hyundai Ioniq commercial pegged to 2023 sequel Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse.

“Regarding voice over work, I’ve mostly shared my bubbly, quirky side. I’m a very positive person who loves to inspire and make people feel heard, so that tends to translate well to commercials, especially those aimed at young adults and children,” Mack told VoyageLA in a 2020 interview. “I would love to get more involved in animation, so I’ve actually been branching out to that recently, doing some work on Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse and some other independent animated series.”

Born in Cincinnati, Ohio, Mack credited watching classic sitcoms I Love Lucy, Bewitched, and Gilligan’s Island for informing “a deep-rooted passion for acting and storytelling.” She moved to Southern California to study Film Production & Business at Chapman University and found that “acting was what fulfilled me the most.”

“My education in all areas of film production has lent itself well to producing, I discovered, so I’ve made four short films and hope to produce a feature at some point too,” Mack said of the shorts Positive, The Perfect One, and A Knock at the Door. In 2025, Mack received an executive producer credit on the feature Universal.

“It took several years to be cast in a TV show, and I feel so lucky to have had my first opportunity on such a well-known show,” Mack said of The Walking Dead. “Since then, things have definitely begun to pick up a bit – I’ve had small roles on a few more shows and have a feature coming out soon that I’m super excited about [2021’s Broadcast Signal Intrusion].”

Mack’s final credit will be Universal (2025), described as a “comedy/drama/sci-fi feature film in which a couple of academics enjoying a romantic break in a remote log cabin find their stay interrupted by someone who’s tracked them down, seeking their help with what could be the biggest discovery in history.” The independent feature held its premiere at the Los Angeles indie festival DancesWithFilms in June.

“It is with indelible sadness that we are announcing the passing of our dear Kelley. Such a bright, fervent light has transitioned to the beyond, where we all eventually must go,” Mack’s family wrote in an Aug. 5 Instagram post announcing her death. “Kelley passed peacefully on Saturday evening with her loving mother Kristen and steadfast aunt Karen present. Kelley has already come to many of her loved ones in the form of various butterflies . She will be missed by so many to depths that words cannot express.”

The post Kelley Mack Remembered by The Walking Dead Producer appeared first on ComicBook.com.

Actress Kelley Mack passed away on Saturday, August 2nd at the age of 33, her family announced online. Mack was best known for playing Addy on The Walking Dead Season 9, along with several other TV credits. Her family announced her death on the social media platform CaringBridge, revealing that she suffered from a rare tumor known as a glioma, which affects the central nervous system through the brain and spinal cord. They said that Mak “passed away peacefully” in her hometown of Cincinatti, Ohio. Friends and colleagues chimed in with surprise and condolences for Mack’s family, along with their own grief. Fans are also sharing tributes to Mack online as the news spreads.

“It is with indelible sadness that we are announcing the passing of our dear Kelley. Such a bright, fervent light has transitioned to the beyond, where we all eventually must go,” read a post by Mack’s family on Tuesday. “Kelley was known for her warmth, creativity and unwavering support for those around her. Her infectious enthusiasm and dedication to her work inspired countless others in the industry and beyond.”

“Kelley’s legacy will live on through her contributions to film and television, and in the hearts of those who loved her. She will be deeply missed by forever remembered for her talent, kindness and vibrant spirit,” the statement concluded. Mack is survived by her parents, Kristen and Lindsay Klebenow, her sister Kathryn, and her brother, actor Parker Mack. She also leaves behind grandparents Lois and Larry Klebenow and boyfriend Logan Lanier.

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Some of the first comments on the announcement came from Mack’s co-stars, including Alanna Masterson, who played Tara Chambler on The Walking Dead. “What an incredible human. So proud to have fought alongside her in our final episode together,” she wrote. Mack was also known for playing Penelope Jacobs on Chicago Med, and for several prominent ad campaigns she narrated.

Mack’s character Adeline, a.k.a. Addy, was a survivor of the zombie outbreak on The Walking Dead who lived in the Hilltop Colony. She had been a child at the time of the outbreak, meaning she lived about half her life in the post-apocalyptic community. Still, she showed surprising maturity for her age and experience, helping to balance the reckless personalities of other young people in Hilltop. She even shared a heartfelt moment with Daryl Dixon (Norman Reedus) before leaving the show.

Friends and fans continue to share their condolences and fond memories of Mack on social media as news of her passing spreads. For those interested in revisiting Mack’s work, The Walking Dead is streaming now on Netflix, Pluto TV, The Roku Channel, Sling TV, and Philo.

The post Kelley Mack, The Walking Dead Actor, Dies at 33 appeared first on ComicBook.com.

Over its first two seasons, The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon has featured variant walkers like the flesh-searing burners, climbers, the faster and stronger ampers, and bioluminescent zombies lurking in the Chunnel linking France and the United Kingdom. But in Daryl Dixon season 3, Daryl (Norman Reedus) and Carol’s (Melissa McBride) detour to Spain will bring them face-to-face with… talking walkers?! Well, not quite. Like The Walking Dead before it — which seemingly introduced speaking zombies back in season 9, only to then reveal they were the flesh-wearing Whisperers — the talking dead aren’t quite what they seem.

When a shipwrecked Daryl and Carol make their way to Solaz del Mar, they’ll meet “a bunch of new groups of people,” teases series executive producer Greg Nicotero in an interview with ComicBook. One of those groups seems to be a Spanish version of the Whisperers, who so convincingly blended in with the dead they could be mistaken for walkers — often with fatal results.

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“Daryl comes in contact with a leper colony at one point. What’s fun about it is when you initially see them, they’re all covered up and they’re hunched and walking slowly. You’re like, ‘Are those walkers?’ And then one of them talks,” Nicotero reveals. “You’re like, ‘Holy sh-t! Zombies can talk?'” With the lepers, Nicotero adds, “We got a chance to do some really unique non-zombie characters for a change.”

One advantage that Daryl Dixon has over the America-set spinoffs like The Walking Dead: Dead City and The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live is the international setting, which has, so far, spanned different cultures reacting to the walker apocalypse across France, Greenland, England, and Spain.

“One thing that Daryl does that the other shows don’t do is they approach the zombies in a very different way,” Nicotero said, citing a first season episode where Daryl encounters a Parisian conductor whose orchestra consists of walkers attached to instruments. Using the walkers to reflect other cultures was “really fun” and a unique opportunity to do what other Walking Dead spinoffs cannot.

“In this season we have a bit where zombies are being used as marionettes that are portraying sort of old world Spanish culture,” Nicotero, who has served as the special effects makeup designer for all things Walking Dead since 2010, continued. “They’re still scary in many elements, because zombies always have to be scary. But we also have an opportunity to see how other cultures relate to them.”

In the third season, Daryl and Carol “continue their journey towards home and the ones they love,” according to the logline. “As they struggle to find their way back, the path takes them farther astray, leading them through distant lands with ever-changing and unfamiliar conditions as they witness the various effects of the Walker apocalypse.”

The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon season 3 premieres Sunday, Sept. 7, on AMC and AMC+.

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The post Greg Nicotero Explains How Daryl Dixon Uses Zombies Differently From Other Walking Dead Spinoffs appeared first on ComicBook.com.

AMC’s The Walking Dead was never shy about pulling the rug out from under us. From its earliest episodes, the series earned a reputation for high-stakes plotlines and ruthless surprises. In a world ruled by walkers, the most dangerous twists were almost always brought on by humans, and the original run of The Walking Dead used them to keep viewers on the edge of their seats for eleven seasons. 

However, some of those twists went beyond shock value and shifted the show’s trajectory entirely, whether by forcing character transformations, pushing the narrative down unexpected paths, or completely resetting the rules of the game. We’ve compiled a list of ten twists that permanently changed The Walking Dead, for better or worse.

1) Sophia in the Barn

After spending most of Season 2 searching for Carol’s missing daughter, Sophia, played by Madison Lintz, the group stumbles on a terrible truth: Hershel (Scott Wilson) has been keeping walkers in his barn, still believing they’re sick rather than dead. When the group finally opens the doors, walker-Sophia stumbles out last. Melissa McBride’s Carol is overcome with grief, and Rick (Andrew Lincoln) is forced to put the young girl down.

This moment was the show’s first truly seismic shock because it rewrote the rules of hope. Until then, there was an idea that maybe not all tragedies would end in devastation, that someone, especially an innocent child, might be spared by the writers. But Sophia’s death crushed any false sense of cosmic justice in the brutal walker-ridden world.

2) Shane’s Death

As Jon Bernthal’s Shane becomes more volatile throughout Season 2, his relationship with Rick grows increasingly strained. It reaches a fever pitch when Shane lures Rick into the woods with the intent to kill him. But Rick anticipates the move and stabs Shane first. Rick’s son Carl (Chandler Riggs) arrives moments later and shoots Shane again after he reanimates, making Carl’s first kill one of heartbreaking necessity.

Shane’s death closes out the show’s first major internal conflict, but it also represents the moment Rick truly hardens. The group’s moral center begins to slip as survival instincts override moral compasses. The fact that Carl plays a key role in the aftermath is also critical; it accelerates his coming-of-age and reinforces the narrative that no one is safe from either death or corruption.

3) The Fall of the Prison

The group spends much of Seasons 3 and 4 building a community at the prison. However, when David Morrissey’s iconic villain, the Governor, returns with a tank and a vengeance, their fortress crumbles. In a single episode, Hershel is beheaded, the fences are breached, and the survivors are scattered in every direction. It’s an all-out assault that ends their most stable home yet.

The fall of the prison introduces the first in a string of ruthless big bads, and marks the end of the show’s ensemble as we knew it. The event splits the characters, launching each into solo or smaller group arcs. From this point forward, they are divided, trust is more complex to earn, and the idea of rebuilding a free society becomes even more distant.

4) Terminus Is a Trap

After the prison’s fall, the survivors are scattered and isolated across the countryside, slowly making their way toward a supposed sanctuary called Terminus. By the end of Season 4, several of them, including Rick, Carl, Michonne (Danai Gurira), Daryl (Norman Reedus), Glenn (Steven Yeun), and Maggie (Lauren Cohan), reunite there, only to be herded into a train car at gunpoint by Gareth (Andrew J. West) and his crew. In the Season 5 premiere, “No Sanctuary,” it becomes clear that the residents of Terminus are cannibals, and Rick’s group is being held captive to be butchered and eaten.

This twist escalated the series into full-blown horror-thriller territory as Terminus took things to a new level of depravity. “No Sanctuary” drew over 17 million viewers—the highest-rated episode in the show’s history. Rick’s transformation from conflicted leader to vengeful tactician was crystallized here, setting the tone for a darker, more visceral era of The Walking Dead.

5) Glenn’s Fake-Out Death

During a walker swarm in Season 6, fan-favorite character Glenn appears to be devoured after falling off a dumpster. Viewers mourned for weeks until a later episode revealed he survived by sliding under the bin and hiding beneath Nicholas’ corpse. The internet exploded with debate over whether the fake-out was cheap or brilliant, with many fans leaning towards frustration. 

The twist shook trust in the show itself. It introduced a new kind of narrative manipulation over the audience, where death could be used for drama, but without the finality. It also made Glenn’s eventual death in Season 7 feel even more gutting, as fans had just been through the emotional wringer only to be dragged back into it.

6) Negan Kills Glenn and Abraham

The Season 6 finale left fans on a cliffhanger: who did Negan, played by Jeffrey Dean Morgan, kill with his bat, Lucille? The Season 7 premiere delivered a double blow: first Abraham (Michael Cudlitz), then, in a shocking escalation, Glenn. The brutal, prolonged way their skulls were crushed divided audiences even further. After the fake death under the dumpster just a season earlier, some viewers felt the show’s best days were behind it.

While Negan quickly became one of the series’ most complex and popular villains, so much so that he would eventually headline his own spinoff, The Walking Dead: Dead City, it came at a steep cost. The sudden tonal shift into relentless nihilism, combined with the emotional whiplash of Glenn’s fake death and then actual death, led to a noticeable drop in ratings as many fans tapped out entirely. The Walking Dead never again reached the peak audience numbers it had before this episode. 

7) Carl’s Bite

Midway through Season 8, Carl reveals a walker bite on his torso, an irreversible death sentence. Unlike previous major deaths, there’s no shocking attack or explosive moment. Instead, Carl spends his final episode writing letters to the people he loves, trying to leave behind a message of peace and hope. He dies a dignified death, choosing to end his own life before the infection can claim him.

Carl’s death stunned fans because it deviated so drastically from the comics, where Carl survives until the end. As Rick’s moral compass and the show’s symbolic “future,” Carl’s loss left a void that the show never fully refilled. The backlash was intense and many viewers and critics questioned the decision to kill off a character with so much unexplored potential. Without Carl, Rick’s motivations become more unstable, and the audience is forced to confront a bleaker, more uncertain future.

8) Rick Blows Up the Bridge

After suffering an injury while luring walkers away from his friends, Rick finds himself cornered on a bridge swarmed by the dead. In an act of sacrifice, he blows up the bridge to stop the horde, seemingly killing himself in the process. But in the episode’s final moments, it’s revealed that he survived and is airlifted away by Jadis (Pollyanna McIntosh) in a CRM helicopter, setting up his departure from the main series.

For nine seasons, Rick had been the narrative anchor of the show. Viewers were left to process a Walking Dead without their fearless leader, and ratings took another nosedive following his departure. At the same time, it opened the door for spinoffs and a broader universe, including The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live, which follows Rick and Michonne’s journey post-CRM. His final bridge scene also symbolized the end of the show’s old world, paving the way for something entirely new.

9) The Six-Year Time Jump

Immediately following Rick’s disappearance, the show leaps forward six years. Judith (Cailey Fleming) is now a brave, gun-toting, katana-wielding child. Michonne has become emotionally closed off. Carol is living with Ezekiel (Khary Payton). Daryl has retreated into the woods. The structure of Alexandria and the surrounding communities has changed dramatically, with new conflicts brewing beneath the surface.

It’s clear this jump was a hard reset for the writers, and for a show that had just lost its lead, The Walking Dead used the time jump to reinvent itself with a fresh tone and new emotional stakes. It let characters evolve offscreen, introduced new survivors like Magna (Nadia Hilker) and Connie (Lauren Ridloff), and altered the group dynamics in ways that couldn’t have happened otherwise. It also gave Judith the narrative spotlight Carl once held, reviving some of the hope that had been lost. Generally, fans praised it as a necessary shake-up, and the jump reignited some interest in a show that was feeling stagnant.

10) The Commonwealth’s Secrets

In the final season, the survivors encounter the Commonwealth, a highly organized and well-resourced civilization led by Governor Pamela Milton (Laila Robins). At first, it seems like a return to the comforts of the pre-walker world: jobs, structure, and even sporting events. But as the season progresses, it becomes clear that the Commonwealth is corrupt. Inequality is rampant, voices are is silenced, and the elites tightly control power. The system begins to unravel as the group pushes back against its authoritarian structure.

The ugly truth behind the Commonwealth isn’t exactly a shocking moment, but it’s a slow-burn realization that civilization itself may be the greatest illusion of all. After a decade of fighting to rebuild society, our heroes discover that even the most advanced community is still plagued with the same old hierarchies and injustices. It’s a bitter but fitting conclusion to The Walking Dead’s central themes, and it sets the stage for future TWD spinoffs.

All eleven seasons of The Walking Dead are currently streaming on Netflix. 

Which twist left you reeling? Share your favorite (or least favorite) twist in the comments.

The post 10 Plot Twists That Changed The Walking Dead Forever appeared first on ComicBook.com.

When The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon — The Book of Carol reunited Norman Reedus and Melissa McBride, it had been two years since we last saw them together. It’s been nearly seven years since Reedus’ Daryl and Andrew Lincoln’s Rick Grimes were separated back in season 9 of The Walking Dead, and still no brotherly reunion. (The show’s former lead went on to reunite with Danai Gurira’s Michonne in their own spinoff series, The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live, in 2024.)

But with Daryl Dixon winding down — AMC announced at San Diego Comic-Con that the show’s upcoming fourth season will be its last, likely airing in 2026 — fans are wondering whether the two characters will meet again for the first time since 2018.

“We’re very aware of it,” Reedus told IGN when asked about fan theories that the series could end with a reunion. “There’s so many ideas thrown around from fans for all these things. I think sometimes it’s better to do the opposite of what people expect so they’re surprised.”

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“If we just read what fans wanted all the time and gave them what they wanted, then you would know the outcome of everything. So sometimes I think it’s better to tell your story,” he continued. “People can like it, argue, hate it, whatever, but you don’t want to just read Twitter, you know what I’m saying?”

For his part, Lincoln hasn’t ruled out reprising the role after The Ones Who Live. The six-episode limited series ended with the reunited Rick and Michonne making their way home to their children, bringing Rick’s story to an end — at least for now.

“Never say never,” Lincoln previously told EW about potentially returning to The Walking Dead Universe. “There are other very important characters in the universe that are still wandering around and alive that I think it might be quite exciting to have them breathe the same air and see how long they survive together. But it’s a difficult one. It would have to be like [The Ones Who Live], a really exciting story.”

And Scott M. Gimple, former Walking Dead showrunner and current chief content officer of AMC’s TV universe, has hinted at plans to bring together the series that splintered out of The Walking Dead when the original series ended after 11 seasons in 2022.

“The cool thing about all these [shows] is … you don’t have to see any of these [shows] to watch any of these [shows],” Gimple told ComicBook of the interconnected universe that includes the ongoing Daryl Dixon and the just-renewed The Walking Dead: Dead City. “But if you are watching them all, you get little rewards that you might not have noticed, and I want to keep doing that.”

Gimple went on to tease that The Ones Who Live “does potentially flow into other stories – and certainly, my overall hopes and dreams are to pull everything together at some point. Whether temporarily, or on more of a long-term basis.” Whether that means an Avengers: Endgame-style crossover to wrap things up or a Walking Dead revival remains to be seen.

The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon season 3 premieres Sept. 7 on AMC and AMC+.

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Daryl and Carol are on the final leg of their world tour. The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon has been renewed for a fourth season, which will be the last for Norman Reedus and Melissa McBride‘s Walking Dead spinoff. AMC Networks announced the news during the show’s San Diego Comic-Con panel in Hall H on Friday, where fans got a first look at the official trailer for Daryl Dixon season 3 (premiering Sept. 7 on AMC and AMC+).

“This isn’t Maine, is it?” McBride’s Carol asks in the trailer as the shipwrecked duo wash ashore in Spain. Daryl and Carol then make their way to the under-siege town of Solaz del Mar, where Daryl says they’re “always fightin’ everyone’s fights.” This time, they’ll have to liberate the people of Solaz del Mar by killing the King of Spain.

“We have to fight them,” Daryl tells the townspeople of their oppressors. “First you survive what happened to you,” Carol adds. “And after time, if you’re lucky, you start living again.”

The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon season 3 tracks Carol and Daryl “as they continue their journey towards home and the ones they love,” per the logline. “As they struggle to find their way back, the path takes them farther astray, leading them through distant lands with ever-changing and unfamiliar conditions as they witness the various effects of the Walker apocalypse.”

The network also announced Friday that the eight-episode Daryl Dixon season 4 will begin production later this month in Spain. The final season will be set and filmed in and around Madrid in locations including Bilbao, Galicia, Andalucía, the Segovia region, Toledo and Community of Madrid.

“Across two extraordinary series spanning almost two decades — Norman and Melissa have given life to two of the most iconic characters in the history of television,” said Dan McDermott, president of entertainment and AMC Studios for AMC Networks. “Daryl and Carol have taken fans on an unforgettable and intensely human journey of challenge, survival, hope and friendship, and the response from fans, from the very first moments of The Walking Dead, has been remarkable. We can’t wait to share the upcoming third season of Daryl this fall and to begin production on this fourth and final season in Spain.”

“Daryl Dixon has been an incredible journey. I thank each and every fan who has joined us on this ride,” Reedus said. “It’s been a privilege to build this story for these characters, and we have so much gratitude for how it’s been embraced. Your love and support have made every moment worth it. This finale isn’t just an ending; it’s a celebration of what we’ve all shared together.”

He continued, “Keep carrying that love forward – Daryl’s journey is far from over.”

Added McBride, “It has been the thrill of a lifetime to shoot this part of Daryl and Carol’s
adventure together in Europe and I keep coming back for more of these two characters. There is still so much story left to tell and so much for the fans to look forward to. I’m going to revel in the moments as they come and am excited for the fans to see what we have been working on in these incredible locations.”

When the Reedus-fronted first season of Daryl Dixon premiered in 2023, it became the #1 most-viewed premiere of all time on AMC+ and the most-viewed season of any show in the history of the streaming service as a top acquisition driver in both the U.S. and Spain. The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon – The Book of Carol, which reunited Reedus and McBride in France, ranked as AMC+’s #1 sophomore season of all time.

The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon returns with season 3 Sept. 7 on AMC and AMC+.

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To say The Walking Dead by Robert Kirkman is one of the biggest independent comics ever created would be selling it short. Lasting for 193 issues from 2003 to 2019, the legendary comic series has become a cultural powerhouse, even leading to the massively popular AMC television series of the same name (and its spinoffs.) A big part of why The Walking Dead has been so popular is not just that it’s the story of survival, but because of the threats the characters face. Yes, The Walking Dead is a zombie story, but the zombies were only a threat early on in the series as readers discovered the real monsters were the living, aka other survivors.

While there aren’t a lot of major threats (outside of the ever-present zombies,) the threats in the story are all significant and terrifying in their own ways. In fact, all the major threats made it to the television series, which says something about how significant they really are.

4) The Commonwealth

Starting off with the final major threat in The Walking Dead we have The Commonwealth. While they had an army of 50,000 soldiers, they were more or less the best off community our protagonists came across but that came with a cost. They were terribly corrupt and divided by class systems rather than working together to be treated equally. When Rick and company arrived, they led a charge to change things for the better.

While there wasn’t a full on war like some of the other threats, the Commonwealth showed how the series had evolved from its beginning. The zombies were so far on the backburner that society had rebuilt itself and still needed fixing after everything that had happened. It also signaled the end was on the horizon and that the world would be back on it’s feet in its own way.

3) The Whisperers

By far the creepiest group our heroes ever face, we have the Whisperers. A pack of survivors who wore the skin of the dead to mask their smell, walking around in the packs of the dead to attack others and bring them along into their group was their main plan of attack. They were led by their leader known as Alpha and later, Beta.

They were a stronger group under Alpha’s rule but Beta pushed them further into a war with our protagonists. With the help of Negan and some of his former Saviors, together they took on the Whisperers and won. This was possibly the most fun and inventive group the comic had in a long time and brought back some magic to the book in a dry spell. The art and design for them were top notch and earn their spot.

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2) The Governor

The original “big bad” of the series was Brian Blake, the Governor. He led his own community known as Woodbury. Coming to his community he would later takeover he would transform himself from a weak man to a sadistic madman with skills of manipulation towards everyone he would meet. Wanting to take over the prison where our protagonists left was his main goal.

He would attack and harm our protagonists in many different ways and went to show how far the apocalypse could change a many. Later losing and eye and an arm he disappeared for a tiny bit until he came back and killed a good chunk of Rick’s crew. He was the first example of not being able to trust everyone you could meet and his legacy showed that his impact would never be forgotten.

1) The Saviors

Of course we had to have Negan and the Saviors at out top spot. Becoming a fan favorite of sorts even getting the video game treatment, Negan and the Saviors are probably the most recognizable threats in The Walking Dead. Building up to the explosive 100th issue we had met the Saviors who in many ways were a dark reflection of Rick’s crew. They were trying to survive with their leader Negan and lost a good chunk of their men and he had to retaliate.

For the first time in the series we had a villain who was just as in control as Rick was, but he was a lunatic with a colorful vocabulary. That being said, he was endlessly entertaining and would have a redemption arc later on due to his popularity. When he was ruthless, he was extremely ruthless but would prove to be a useful ally. Negan made for some of the best stories in the entire series and it would be hard to imagine what it would be like without him.

Who was your favorite major threat in The Walking Dead? Let us know down in the comments.

The post All the Major Threats in The Walking Dead, Ranked appeared first on ComicBook.com.

New York is the city that never dies. AMC Networks has officially renewed The Walking Dead: Dead City, the Walking Dead spinoff starring Lauren Cohan’s Maggie and Jeffrey Dean Morgan’s Negan, for season 3 ahead of San Diego Comic-Con. The network also announced Wednesday that Seth Hoffman — a writer and co-executive producer on The Walking Dead and House whose credits include Prison Break and Flashforward — will be replacing series creator Eli Jorné as showrunner.

Hoffman has been part of AMC’s Walking Dead Universe since 2013, having written the critically acclaimed “Too Far Gone,” one of the original show’s best-received episodes. A co-executive producer on the series between 2013 and 2016, Hoffman also co-wrote the “Conquer” season 5 finale with showrunner Scott M. Gimple and penned “No Way Out,” which is among the highest-rated episodes of the show that aired 177 episodes over 11 seasons between 2010 and 2022.

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“We’re thankful to Eli Jorné for two seasons of Dead City that took the story of these iconic characters in exciting new directions and broadened this thriving Universe by introducing a new corner of the walker apocalypse,” said Dan McDermott, president of entertainment and AMC Studios for AMC Networks. “As we continue to create new stories for a passionate TWD fanbase, were delighted to have a seasoned Walking Dead veteran like Seth Hoffman at the helm of a new season, alongside the remarkable Lauren Cohan and Jeffrey Dean Morgan, that will bring new adversaries and alliances and push the boundaries of Maggie and Negan’s conflicted relationship.”

Said Hoffman, “I’m excited to have the chance to dive back into The Walking Dead Universe and work to deliver another dynamic season’s worth of stories to this epic franchise. Its a true honor to chart out the next chapter for Maggie and Negan’s iconic adventures in Dead City. Lauren, Jeffrey and Scott are incredible creative partners and I’m thrilled to collaborate with them to bring this story to life.”

Hoffman will serve as writer and showrunner, and executive produces alongside Gimple, chief content officer of The Walking Dead Universe, Cohan, Morgan, Brian Bockrath (The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live) and Colin Walsh (NOS4A2). Dead City is now the third Walking Dead spinoff series to receive a third season following Fear the Walking Dead and The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon, which returns with new episodes in September.

Dead City concluded its eight-episode second season on June 22 on AMC and AMC+, ending with Maggie, Negan, and Colonel Perlie Armstrong (Gaius Charles) forming an alliance as the forces of the New Babylon Federation made their way to the mainland to seize the Croat’s (Željko Ivanek) power-generating methane supply. Meanwhile, power broker The Dama (Lisa Emery) formed her own alliance with Maggie’s son, Hershel Rhee (Logan Kim).

AMC also revealed the first synopsis for The Walking Dead: Dead City season 3. In the third season, “Maggie and Negan finally put aside their differences to build the first thriving community in Manhattan since the apocalypse, but when chaos in the city begins to arise, they are forced to question: have they learned from their old wounds or will their dark past spell doom for the entire city?”

Production on The Walking Dead: Dead City season 3 is set to begin in Boston, MA, this Fall.

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The Walking Dead changed the game for zombie horror on television. Not only did it feature compelling characters, heartbreaking drama, and tense survival stakes, but it also introduced some of the most grotesque, terrifying walkers ever seen on screen. While most walkers were anonymous threats, some stood out in ways fans will never forget. Whether it was their horrific design, shocking introduction, or the emotional gut-punch they delivered, these zombies left a mark, and not just the toothy kind.

Let’s take a walk down memory lane (but, you know, in a shambling, undead kind of way) as we rank the 10 scariest walkers in The Walking Dead’s legendary run.

10) Well Walker (Season 2, Episode 4)

The Well Walker was a bloated, waterlogged corpse lurking at the bottom of a farm well—an image so revolting it still triggers gag reflexes more than a decade later. After being discovered on Hershel’s farm, the survivors lower Glenn into the well to try and remove the walker without contaminating the water supply. What follows is one of the series’ most grotesque moments. As they haul the bloated corpse up, its body tears in half, spilling entrails and slop into the well.

Fans agree that this walker remains one of the most disturbing visual effects on the show. It wasn’t just gross. It was unforgettably gross. What makes the Well Walker horrifying is it’s both grotesque and useless. Too bloated to climb out, yet still a potential contaminant to the group, it represents the ever-present danger of the undead, even when they can’t move. When they to remove the walker from the well it splits in half, spilling its viscera into the water supply. It’s a scene that’s still one of the gnarliest in the series.

9) Tree Walker (Season 4, Episode 9)

Some of the scariest walkers weren’t just terrifying because of how they looked, but how they were found. Michonne stumbles upon the Tree Walker in the forest, its skin rotting and tangled in roots, as its body had become stuck and fused into the tree. The walker can’t move much, but it snarls with unending hunger. This grotesque scene, paired with Michonne’s flashbacks and mental unraveling, symbolized the enduring, inescapable death surrounding the characters. It’s the kind of nightmare fuel The Walking Dead specialized in. This walker works as a haunting metaphor for the slow decay of both civilization and hope as much as it was a horror element.

8) Winslow the Spiked Walker (Season 7)

If you thought walkers were bad, imagine them weaponized. One of the most fearsome creations was Winslow, the Spiked Walker. The armored corpse is covered with spikes through its body and wearing a spiked, metal helmet. Trapped in a junkyard pit with Rick, Winslow’s appearance forced Rick to think creatively to survive. It was one of the few times on the series where the walker itself, not just the situation, was the real boss-level enemy.

Visually horrifying and conceptually brutal, the Spiked Walker stood as a twisted example of how even the dead can be manipulated into instruments of torture. The sheer brutality of the spikes sticking through Winslow’s body is bad enough, but it’s the idea that even this isn’t enough to stop him that leaves a lasting impression. You can see the suffering, the rage, and his persistence, and it all adds up to an absolutely terrifying experience for both the characters and viewers.

7) Penny Blake (Season 4)

Few walkers tug at the heartstrings like Penny Blake, the Governor’s daughter turned undead. Unlike most mindless walkers, Penny represents a tragic story of loss and denial. The Governor, desperate to hold onto any shred of his former life, refuses to accept that Penny is gone. He keeps her caged, feeding her raw meat and even brushing her hair, painstakingly removing bits of her scalp to maintain a semblance of care.

This walker isn’t terrifying because of her appearance, but because of what she symbolizes: a father’s refusal to let go, and the horrifying consequences of clinging to hope in a world overrun by death. When Michonne finally discovers Penny, she attempts to free her, only to realize the child is well beyond saving. Penny’s final demise marks a gut-wrenching turning point for the Governor, stripping away what little humanity he had left.

Unlike typical leashed walkers that have their arms and jaws removed to keep them harmless, Penny is kept intact, a chilling reminder of the dangers of denial and the deep emotional scars the apocalypse has left on survivors. As Walking Dead fandom notes, Penny may not be the most gruesome walker, but she is undeniably one of the most heartbreaking—and terrifying in her own emotional way

6) The Whisperers (Season 9, Episode 8)

This may not technically be a walker in the traditional sense. This group of “walkers” arrived on the scene and something about them just seemed… wrong. Their movements were slightly off, their coordination was eerie, and they were whispering. This was the moment viewers realized that these were in fact humans. The Whisperers were a group that wore the skin of the undead like masks and moved among the horde to stay hidden, using fear and deception as weapons. It was a new, psychologically twisted kind of threat.

In the episode, “Evolution,” the survivors discovered the horrifying truth in a graveyard scene straight out of a slasher movie. As Jesus is attacked by what seems like a regular walker, it suddenly dodges his sword and stabs him—revealing itself to be one of the Whisperers. As far as pure dread goes, this moment changed the show into proving that the monsters weren’t just the undead.

5) Bicycle Girl (Season 1, Episode 1)

Sometimes, less is more, and Bicycle Girl proved that from day one. The first truly memorable walker of the series, Bicycle Girl was half a corpse, dragging herself pitifully through the grass. Her sunken eyes and wheezing groans helped set the tone for the series: yes, this was going to be a story about survival, but it was also going to be deeply human.

Rick’s mercy killing of the torn walker added emotional depth to a grotesque encounter. In fact, AMC was so impacted by the character that they gave her a webisode origin story, Torn Apart, exploring her tragic last moments as a human. Bicycle Girl became a symbol of the show’s central theme: death is everywhere, and even mercy can come with a bullet.

4) Sewer Walkers (Season 8, Episode 8)

There’s a reason to be afraid of the dark, and in The Walking Dead the Sewer Walkers are proof. While Alexandria burns above, Carl leads the group through a tunnel system, only to encounter decomposing, waterlogged walkers crawling in tight quarters. With dripping flesh and skeletal features, they looked like the Well Walker’s extended family, and were equally disturbing.

These Sewer Walkers are not your standard roamers. Covered in all manner of filth, due to exposure in the sewers, they appear half-dissolved, dripping, skeletal, and grotesquely sludgy. Their skin is peeling off in sheets, and their movements are jerky, more insect-like than human. They crawl, lurch, and ooze forward with relentless intent, making them all the more terrifying in such claustrophobic quarters. If the infamous Well Walker had distant cousins, these sewer-bound nightmares would be them, The Sewer Walkers are deservedly on this list because they are among one of the most visually revolting in the entire series, and they mark one of its most tragic turns, with Carl revealing that he’s been bitten.

3) Hanging Walker (Season 4, Episode 12)

Sometimes, fear comes not from gore, but from context, and the Hanging Walker scene nailed that atmosphere perfectly. As Daryl and Beth explore a country club, they encounter a walker dangling by the neck, long decomposed and eerily swaying. It doesn’t scream. It doesn’t move. But that makes it deeply unsettling.

Its presence suggests a backstory of quiet desperation. Was this a person who chose to end their life before turning, or were they left to suffer and die in isolation? Either possibility is horrifying, but the show never gives us an answer, only the haunting image left behind. It’s a subtle kind of horror, rooted in human tragedy rather than gore.

In a series full of relentless terror, this moment stands out as a quiet, haunting reminder of the choices people made in despair, and the scene remains one of the show’s most emotionally complex horror visuals.

2) The Burned Walkers (Season 6, Episode 6)

When Daryl finds himself separated from the group, he stumbles into a charred forest, home to some of the most grotesque walkers in the show’s history. Burned walkers aren’t rare, but their disfigurement and resilience make them feel especially monstrous. Their grotesque appearance, often with melted skin and almost glowing eyes, turns them into walking nightmares. They’re not-living proof that nothing short of complete destruction is guaranteed to stop the undead, and that’s part of what makes them so terrifying.

With their bodies still smoking, they smolder (not in a sexy way) as they shamble, making their slow approach that much more horrifying. These walkers marked a shift in design toward more creative and cinematic horror. More importantly, they served as a metaphor for the scorched Earth the characters were now navigating, and the character’s descent into madness.

1) The Barn Walkers (Season 2, Episode 7)

You knew this was coming. No walker moment in The Walking Dead hit harder, or felt more terrifying, than the barn reveal. After tensions mount between Rick’s group and Hershel’s family, the barn doors are finally opened… and hell spills out. Dozens of walkers stumble out, including friends and loved ones of the farm’s residents. But the true horror doesn’t come until the end when we see young Sophia among them, who has been missing since early in the season.

This gut-wrenching moment made this not just a terrifying walker moment, but the most iconic one in the series. Sophia’s walker form, with vacant eyes and bloodied clothes, became a symbol of lost innocence and the brutal reality of the world they lived in.

The post 10 Scariest Walkers From The Walking Dead, Ranked appeared first on ComicBook.com.

Several of the cast members of Christopher Nolan’s highly-anticipated The Odyssey movie have also made appearances in The Walking Dead and its spinoffs. An adaptation of Homer’s ancient Greek epic poem, The Odyssey will star Matt Damon as Odysseus and chronicle his long journey home to Ithaca following the Trojan War. With an estimated production budget of $250 million, The Odyssey is billed as Nolan’s most expensive movie to date, and this has given him the freedom to cast some remarkably talented stars alongside Damon, including a number of The Walking Dead veterans.

Matt Damon was the first star cast in The Odyssey after working with Nolan on Oppenheimer and Interstellar. Tom Holland, Anne Hathaway, Robert Pattinson, Lupita Nyong’o, Charlize Theron, and many more joined soon after, contributing to one of the most star-packed and exciting movie casts of our generation. The Odyssey will mark the biggest step in the careers of some actors from AMC’s The Walking Dead, too, with five stars from the series currently being cast in a variety of interesting roles.

5) Corey Hawkins

After a number of bit-roles, Corey Hawkins rose to prominence when he joined The Walking Dead season 6 as Heath, a survivor residing in the Alexandria Safe Zone. Heath mysteriously disappeared from The Walking Dead during a run to Oceanside with Tara (Alanna Masterson) in season 7, as Hawkins departed to film other projects, including Kong: Skull Island, BlacKkKlansman, and 24: Legacy. In February 2025, Deadline reported that Hawkins had joined the cast of The Odyssey, though there’s no word yet on who he’ll be playing in Christopher Nolan’s next movie.

4) Josh Stewart

Although he hasn’t appeared in the parent show, Josh Stewart starred as Chase in the four-part 2012 web series, The Walking Dead: Cold Storage. Chase seeks refuge in a storage facility in the early days of the zombie apocalypse, but comes to blows with the facility’s steward, B.J. (Daniel Roebuck). Stewart shared the news on Instagram, boasting his previous roles in Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar, The Dark Knight Rises, and Tenet. The Odyssey will mark Stewart’s fourth movie with Nolan, though, again, it hasn’t been confirmed who he’ll be playing in the 2026 movie.

3) Ryan Hurst

Ryan Hurst had a prominent role throughout The Walking Dead seasons 9 and 10 as Beta, the second-in-command among the Whisperers, survivors who wear Walker faces as a form of camouflage. Beta also made an uncredited cameo appearance in Fear the Walking Dead season 5, making Hurst one of the few actors to cross over between series. Hurst is perhaps best known for roles in Sons of Anarchy and Remember the Titans, and The Hollywood Reporter revealed in March 2025 that he’s now set to make his mark in The Odyssey in an undisclosed role.

2) Samantha Morton

The Odyssey is set to actually mark a Whisperer reunion, as not only will Ryan Hurst be appearing in the movie, but Samantha Morton has also been cast. Morton debuted in The Walking Dead season 9 as Alpha, the sinister and terrifying leader of the Whisperers – a role that she reprised in the Tales of the Walking Dead anthology series, which explored the origins of her use of Walkers’ faces as camouflage. Morton is the recipient of numerous accolades, becoming one of the most celebrated British actors of her generation, so she’ll be a huge asset to The Odyssey’s cast.

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Samantha Morton’s casting in The Odyssey was confirmed by The Hollywood Reporter alongside several other actors. This includes Elliot Page, Himesh Patel, and Bill Irwin, all of whom have worked with Nolan before on Inception, Tenet, and Interstellar, respectively. The Odyssey marks Morton’s first role with Christopher Nolan, but given her prominence in the British film industry, this could just be the first of many.

1) Jon Bernthal

The most prominent The Walking Dead actor cast in The Odyssey must be Jon Bernthal, who originated the role of Shane Walsh in The Walking Dead seasons 1 and 2, and made a number of cameo appearances as the villain in subsequent years. Since starring as Shane, Bernthal rose to stardom with roles in projects such as The Wolf of Wall Street, Sicario, Baby Driver, and Widows. His most popular role, however, must be as Frank Castle’s Punisher in the MCU, a character he first portrayed in Netflix’s Daredevil series, and has since reprised in Daredevil: Born Again.

It’s still unclear who Jon Bernthal will be playing in The Odyssey, but he’s seen alongside Tom Holland’s Telemachus, Odysseus’ son, and Lupita Nyong’o in the movie’s first teaser. The Odyssey is scheduled to premiere on July 17, 2026, and both Bernthal and Holland will be seen together again in the MCU’s Spider-Man: Brand New Day only two weeks later on July 31, 2026. Bernthal will also be returning as the Punisher in his own MCU Special Presentation in 2026, so next year will be a huge one for the veteran of The Walking Dead.

Who are you excited to see in Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey? Let us know in the comments!

The post Every Walking Dead Actor Cast in Christopher Nolan’s Odyssey appeared first on ComicBook.com.

When Skybound Entertainment first announced in 2021 that acclaimed cartoonist Tillie Walden would write a trilogy of YA graphic novels set in The Walking Dead‘s universe, many fans, both those of The Walking Dead and other who had read Walden’s graphic novels Spinning, On a Sunbeam, and Are You Listening?, were surprised. The Walking Dead fans hadn’t expected the grisly world of The Walking Dead comics to grow to include a YA subseries, let alone one that brought back the popular protagonist of The Walking Dead video game series, and those familiar with Walden’s intimate, relationship-focused work didn’t expect to find the artist – who had previously published only entirely original – telling a story with someone else’s intellectual property.

But now, the Clementine trilogy is complete. Clementine Book Three was released in comic shops in June and in bookstores everywhere this week. Having already seen Clementine and her friends survive a hostile mountaintop and deceptively serene island, Clementine Book Three sees the group struggling to find their place in one of the new communities that have sprung up in the wake of the zombie apocalypse. At the same time, Clementine continues to navigate the trauma of her childhood, along with fresher mental and emotional wounds.

ComicBook had the opportunity to speak with Walden about the Clementine series upon the release of its final installment. During the discussion, she touches on the themes she tried to weave throughout the trilogy, the new skills she learned along the way, and why she was disappointed about the lack of cholera. Be warned that the conversation does brush up against spoiling at least one major event in Clementine Book Three. Our conversation follows.

When you started work on Clementine, as you went in on Book One, how thoroughly did you have the whole three-book story worked out? Was it all there?

No. It was almost all not there. It was. I came up with a plot for Book One, and Book One alone, right at the start. I was like, “Let’s do Vermont. Let’s do some evil twins. Let’s do our little dance where two girls are going to like each other. I built all that, and it was only as I was working on the inking that my editor was like, “By the way, what’s the plan for number two? What’s the plan for number three?” And I was like, “I don’t know. Why are you asking me that? I’m making book one. You have to be patient.” And I waited all the way until Book One was wrapped and done before I started thinking about Book Two and, while I was working on Book Two, I did start considering Book Three, just a bit, just because, as a middle book of a series, you’re laying the groundwork for what’s gonna happen in the next one.

But I didn’t think about Book Three as much as I should have. If I could go back in time, in my time machine, I would tell Tilly of Book One of Clementine, “Take an hour. Write down some ideas. Give yourself some structure.” It would have saved me a lot of redrafting because, by not planning the series out, it meant that it was a really tall order for each book to fully connect to the first, but also fully build on it. Book Two got redrawn a few times, and Book Three got redrawn a few times, all because I didn’t plan what I should have planned.

The only idea I had while working on Book One, fleetingly, was that I knew that, at some point in the series, I wanted Clementine to go back to school, and I wasn’t able to pull it off in Book Two, but I was like, “I want it to happen in Book Three,” and that was the only anchor point that I knew about. The rest was really coming up with it as I was working on it.

Why was sending Clementine back to school so important? Why was that such an anchor point for you?

As I was working on Book One – and especially as I was working on the dialog – Clementine, Ricca, Amos, Olivia, Georgia, they read things, they talk about their past, and it really started to dawn on me that reading would be hard for them if you stopped at second grade. You can read in second grade, but you can’t read big words; you’re an early reader, and the more I thought about it, I was just like, “Oh God. Can these kids even write their names? When’s the last time she picked up a pencil?”

And it really stuck in my head, because I found it affecting to think about this idea that these kids are so much more proficient than I am in a lot of ways – they can build a fire, they can kill a moose, they can survive – but they know nothing about math, about history, about language, about reading, about media. It really stuck in my head, and then I was then I was like, “Oh, well, that’s something I have to do then is I have to reintroduce this to her,” because I think so much about this series is about Clementine becoming a whole person and not just being a survivor, and I think one of the ways you you become a whole person is what you learn from others, and we all get that by going to school.

I really craved the idea of her sitting at a desk again, because I felt like it would be so weird, as someone who has just spent the last 10 years doing nothing but killing and running and being hungry, to sit at a desk and have someone give you a worksheet. How out of left field. So, I got my wish. I got to do it in Book Three.

I think that’s such a funny thing about kids and about teenagers, and even young adults, is you become a master of what you’ve experienced but everything outside of that experience, you don’t know what’s going on, and that’s what adulthood is, learning to handle experiences you’re not used to. But these kids, no, they have no idea what is in store for them.

Along those lines, I was struck throughout the series by some of the words the kids don’t know, because they’re not the kind of words you’re necessarily taught, they’re the kind of words most kids would take in almost by osmosis from being around others.

Yeah, as a series too, I’ve spent a lot of time with Clementine hanging out with other kids her age. She doesn’t hang out with a lot of adults. I think that there would be a really fascinating generational divide in the post-apocalyptic zombie universe, because I think that the people who grew up with nice, cushy childhoods with running water, these kids would have no patience for them. They’d be like, “You don’t know this world like we do.” So I’ve kept her sequestered with a lot of young people, which means she spent all her time with other uneducated young people, so all the stuff that I think she could have picked up naturally, she didn’t.

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Going back to my previous question, I’m a little surprised to hear you say that you didn’t have much planned out when you started the series because I re-read the first two books before reading Book Three, and I felt like I could see patterns emerge, with Clementine going throguh these different stages of development, first rebuilding herself, then learning to have a relationship with one person, and then learning to fit into a community. And then also, the villains are so similar — not villains, they’re more antagonists — but they all feel like Mirror Universe versions of Clementine, or at least who Clementine could have turned out to be. Were those conscious choices you made, or did they emerge more naturally as you wrote, or am I seeing patterns that aren’t there?

I was definitely chasing patterns. Even though it wasn’t written in advance, when I was writing Book Two, it was so defined by what I had written in Book One. It was conscious that Georgia was technically the villain of Book One, and then in Book Two, what if this villain grew up? What if this villain becomes a woman who’s lost? Who doesn’t know how to handle herself or her community? Then that’s Miss Morro. Then in Book Three, it was like, “Okay, well, what? What would Miss Morrow have been like if she had found community, if she had found people who love her and cultivated that love, but that love was toxic?”

All of it, I think, ends up being that these books have themes of womanhood, of coming of age, of all the different ways people deal with trauma. So I really consciously came back to the same themes again and again, like themes of memory of the past kept coming up with school, with Ricca being interested in Judaism, with Olivia learning to have a baby, with Clementine learning to be in a relationship, it’s all the same story. I think that helped, and it made it possible to write this series one at a time, because I was always leaning on these same themes and same questions. And every book, I just wanted to attack the themes from a different angle, always trying to do something a little bit differently. The different settings really helped with that, because if the setting is different and we have new characters, then it gives me a new reflection point to examine Clementine, and to examine her friends.

Learning that you didn’t have it all planned out at once also means that you didn’t know – and we’re dancing around spoilers here, so reader beware – what would happen with Ricca in Book Three until you were writing it.

That I did come up with a little bit in Book Two — I had an inkling that that was gonna happen.

So, when and how did that occur to you? What made you feel like this was a thing that needed to happen for Clementine’s story to end? What clicked that into place?

You know what? I think it happened around when I was about to give birth to my son. When you’re getting ready to give birth – you don’t have to do this, but you do have to, sort of – you get your ducks in a row in case you do not live. People sometimes die in childbirth, and my wife and I considered, if we both die, who’s going to take care of our kid? And all of these questions, and I think the proximity to new life brings about such proximity to death.

It made me realize that I actually think the crowning trauma, the scariest thing that Clementine has not experienced, is death that just happens, and I think that the kids of the apocalypse would have a really intense vision of how people are taken from us. It would be visceral. They would be ripped from our lives. We would often see it happen. It would be bloody, but it would be very clear. I think that in a safe modern society, one of the most painful things about death is that we don’t always understand it, and it is so unexplained and scary, and there have been people in my life, a person, a very young person in my wife’s family who had two pulmonary embolisms all of a sudden. It was horrifying. She’s okay, but it was like, “Oh my god.” I worked as an EMT for a while, which gave me a really close view of the tenuousness, the fragility of life.

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I actually think of how much more difficult a loss would be for them when you don’t bleed, when you don’t have the gash, the wound, when you don’t have someone to blame. I think that it’s actually really helpful, traumatically speaking, for all these kids in the apocalypse that you just take your anger and you put it back on the zombies, because they’re the ones who took your loved ones, or a person took your loved one, and you put your anger on them.

But the universe is mysterious, and we do not always have someone to blame. And I felt like, as soon as that idea hit my head, I was like, “I know it needs to happen.” And I actually think that if you asked my editor, he would probably say that I had been gently musing about this idea maybe all the way back in Book One. So it was always a possibility. It’s just like me thinking about death and about how hard it would be for a kid of the apocalypse to not know about pulmonary embolism, and so, yeah, it just happens. You would drop dead. There is no way to stop it.

It’s such a contrast from the main The Walking Dead series, in that there’s such intentionality behind death there. For death to just happen because sometimes death just happens feels almost revelatory in that context.

It’s so unfair! It feels like it doesn’t fit! It’s like it’s is the wrong story. This is not how things are supposed to go, and that’s why I felt like it was the ultimate challenge for Clementine and the ultimate challenge for me as a writer is to square that this is an experience I’m going to have someday. I am going to see this end that these characters are seeing, and I’m terrified, but the only thing that gives me comfort is that every other human being on this Earth is staring down the same end that I am. I feel like the fact that we’re all going through it together is the way I can live on in the face of that.

Another interesting contrast with The Walking Dead – or maybe it’s more how Clementine complements The Walking Dead – is in how Clementine takes some of The Walking Dead’s big ideas and themes and makes them intimate. To me, the first half of The Walking Dead is a lot of bad stuff happening, and then the second half is about rebuilding in the aftermath, all on a societal level. And here, with Clementine, it feels like a lot of bad stuff happened to her in the video games, and your stories are about her rebuilding in a similar way, but internally – how do you rebuild a person who has been through so much trauma?

Yeah, and what’s so cool is that, before I worked on these books, I had subconsciously been writing stories about rebuilding again and again. In On a Sunbeam, they’re rebuilding all these old buildings all over outer space, which I have been quietly obsessed with the notion of building architecture and the spaces we create for ourselves, the families we create for ourselves. These themes had been interesting to me for a while, and it just worked so well when this Walking Dead series came knocking on my door, because it was like, “What is this series going to be about? It’s going to be about a kid rebuilding herself and rebuilding the world with her friends in their image.” I was like, “This is perfect.” This is already interesting to me. It’s still interesting. There is no amount of stories about people building something or building themselves that I will get sick of. It’s perpetually fascinating.

I think that it was so fun to contrast and to juxtapose Clementine’s inner rebuilding with the rebuilding of the world around her, because there’s just so much detritus and decay in the zombie apocalypse. It was so fun to consider all the ways societies would rebuild themselves and would function. And as I’m sure you can tell in this series, I harbor a lot of interest in the chores people would do and the ways people would do things. If anything, I held back quite a lot.

My whole goal with Book Two was to just write a book about cholera. I really wanted to, I was really concerned about the sewage situation in The Walking Dead universe, because everyone has been shitting outside, and every time you kill a zombie, that body is going to sit there and rot and get in the water, so there is probably nothing but fetid water everywhere in North America. Where Is anyone getting clean water? Everyone would die of cholera. So I wanted to make Book Two about cholera. My editor was like, “We can’t make a book about cholera. Can you make it about something other than human waste?” And I was like, “Fine. Way to creatively stifle me. I guess I’ll make a different book.” But it’s okay. It’s not about human waste, but I wanted, in Book Two, the crowning achievement to be that they create a plumbing and water purification system. But that doesn’t really drive the plot that much. I don’t think.

This series is your first time playing in somebody else’s creative sandbox, so to speak. Were you at all reluctant about doing something like this, and has the experience made you more or less eager to do something similar again in the future?

I didn’t go into it with any reluctance, because I was coming off an era of having done quite a few original graphic novels. I had finished Are You Listening? and I was like, to be honest, a bit ready to take a break from my own voice, and a bit ready to take a break from this kind of house style I had been coming to through Spinning and through Sunbeam and through Are You Listening? And I felt like this came at the perfect time, because I was seeking constraints, and I wanted to get out of my comfort zone, and I felt like working on IP, working in this universe that is not my own, working on a universe that has quite a legacy, quite a fan base, where a woman has never drawn it, never written it, I was like, “This sounds like a really interesting challenge.” So I was pumped. I was super excited, and I loved that.

Most people’s reaction to it was like, “Tillie Walden is doing a Walking Dead book?” I was like, “That’s perfect. I love that sentence. That’s hilarious. I never would have guessed.” And also I felt really proud, because I couldn’t believe that I’d gotten to a place in my career where they would ask me to do this. It was moving. It felt like, wow, I am somebody in this field. This is really cool. This is a huge opportunity. So I was nothing but excited.

Now, on the other side of it, after having dealt with a pretty intense fan backlash, I don’t even know what to call it, I am a little hesitant to work in someone else’s sandbox again for a while. I think I got, in a way, a raw deal, because I wasn’t truly dealing with Walking Dead fans, I was dealing with video game fans, and if GamerGate taught us anything, video game fandom, while it can be super important and amazing for a lot of people, it can be really, really toxic. So I don’t think I’m going to work on anything connected to a video game ever again, to be quite honest.

I harbor no regret about working on these books. I love them, I’m proud of them, and I’m so happy to say that Skybound and Robert Kirkman have been fully supportive of me and been on my side and looked out for me, but I don’t want to get death threats anymore. I don’t want to get death threats over a fictional girl who’s not real. That’s ridiculous. That is a useless waste of time and emotion. I don’t need that in my life, and I don’t look at a lot of it. I am totally fine, but if I can avoid it, I will. I think that if I work on a property, a universe, an IP again, I would have to be ready, and I would want to understand the fan culture before I go into it.

I think working on these books for me, as a creator, has been a really enlightening experience and really improved who I am as a writer and as an artist, and it’s been a really, I think, cool era for me and my work. Now, as I step back into more original graphic novels and different things. I think it’s all going to be influenced by the work I did on Clementine.

Can you talk about that a bit more? I read another interview from around the time that the first book came out, and you talked about how you had to learn how to draw zombies, because that was not something you really knew how to do. Are there specific skills, things that have affected your art, that you’ve learned through this series, that you expect are going to influence what’s coming next?

Oh, yeah. I have gotten so much more comfortable and better at drawing action. Obviously, a huge part of The Walking Dead comic book series is beautiful inking, a lot of spot blacks, a lot of this sort of shadow, dark texture, and I learned so much about inking. I learned so much about style working on these books, and I can see it evolve through Clementine Book One, Two, and Three.

It’s funny, the book I’m working on right now is like the polar opposite. There is not any action in sight. It’s historical, and it’s very calm, because these women were very calm, but I can feel what I learned. I can feel how I learned to draw characters in space with one another in new ways, and it’s just night and day. I have so many new tools in my tool belt. It’s really awesome, because if I’d spent this time doing more classic books like I’d done before, yeah, I’d still be great at drawing trees and boats and some Victorian-looking houses, but I wouldn’t have learned this. I wouldn’t have learned about running, hitting, moving, all this more classic comic book style stuff. I love old-school inking. I love this legacy of where comic books come from. And no, it doesn’t read very well now, but I love Dick Tracy. I love the old world style of cartooning, and I it was fun to touch upon it in this, a little bit.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity. Clementine Book Three is on sale now.

The post Tillie Walden Concludes Her Walking Dead Journey With Clementine Book Three appeared first on ComicBook.com.

The third season of The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon is scheduled to premiere in September, and is expected to take even more inspiration from one of the best zombie movies ever by bringing Daryl Dixon and Carol Peletier to the United Kingdom. Norman Reedus and Melissa McBride are two of the longest-surviving members of The Walking Dead’s original cast, alongside Andrew Lincoln’s Rick Grimes. After the main series’ finale, Daryl and Carol embarked on a journey to explore post-apocalyptic Europe – France in seasons 1 and 2, and somewhere new in season 3.

The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon season 3 will complete Daryl and Carol’s hike through the EuroTunnel, bringing them to a zombie-infested United Kingdom. Trailers for the upcoming season have confirmed that British comedy legend Stephen Merchant will be appearing as Julian, a lone survivor in London. In a recent featurette (via YouTube), Merchant described Julian as “the last Englishman in England,” so we’ll surely get some scenes reminiscent of the opening moments of one of the greatest zombie movies in history: Danny Boyle’s 28 Days Later from 2002.

28 Days Later introduced audiences to a United Kingdom ravaged by a Rage Virus that induces heightened aggression, adrenaline, and brutality in the infected. 28 Days Later revolutionized the genre, but one of the movie’s most notable scenes didn’t feature any infected people at all. Rather, 28 Days Later really kicks off when Cillian Murphy’s Jim wakes up in a hospital in the weeks after the Rage Virus outbreak and walks alone through the abandoned streets of London. Merchant’s Julian in The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon could take inspiration from 28 Days Later’s Jim.

In the years since 28 Days Later first released, many subsequent zombie projects have taken inspiration from the iconic movie. This could include The Walking Dead itself, which saw Rick Grimes wake up in hospital weeks after the start of the zombie apocalypse and walk through abandoned streets, very similarly to Jim. The Walking Dead creator Robert Kirkman has routinely denied any connection between his original comic series and 28 Days Later, but the similarity is astounding, and it would be fantastic to see The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon actually pay direct homage to 28 Days Later.

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Daryl and Carol coming to London is an exciting prospect for British viewers who are yet to see what has come of the United Kingdom in The Walking Dead’s universe. Stephen Merchant, known for roles in Logan and Jojo Rabbit, and also for co-creating legendary series including The Office, will also be a fantastic addition to The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon’s cast. Merchant’s Julian would benefit from being inspired by 28 Days Later’s Jim, so The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon, premiering on September 7th, may be the second 2025 project to hark back to Danny Boyle’s 2002 zombie movie.

Are you excited for The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon season 3? Let us know in the comments!

The post Daryl Dixon’s Next Walking Dead Adventure is Perfect For Fans of One of the Best Zombie Movies Ever appeared first on ComicBook.com.

After years of fan requests, it looks like Dead by Daylight is finally getting a long-awaited collaboration. The game’s official X/Twitter account has shared a new teaser image revealing an upcoming crossover with AMC’s The Walking Dead. At this time, Behaviour Interactive is keeping details quiet, and the initial artwork only shows the familiar barricaded doors that Rick Grimes encountered in the hospital in the first episode of the series. Painted above the doors (and the chains struggling to keep them closed) are the words “don’t open, dead inside.” However, the doors aren’t really containing the threat, as the hands of several Walkers can be seen popping through.

There are several possible candidates for a new Dead by Daylight Survivor that could be added based on The Walking Dead. After all, the AMC series has given us iconic characters like Daryl Dixon and Michonne. However, the most likely candidate for the game is Rick Grimes. There’s actually an account on X/Twitter named “Rick Grimes for DbD” that has been championing the character’s addition to Dead by Daylight for a long time now. Earlier this year, they even enlisted Carl Grimes actor Chandler Riggs to do a recording on Cameo advocating for Rick’s addition to the game.

It’s impossible to say whether that plea played any role in Behaviour Interactive adding The Walking Dead content to Dead by Daylight, but the Cameo video of Chandler Riggs did get the attention of the developers. Riggs actually used the occasion to not only advocate for Rick’s addition to the game, but to also share his passion for Dead by Daylight. Whether Carl makes it into the game himself remains to be seen, but it would be nice to see the father and son team make their way into the fog.

Unsurprisingly, reception to today’s teaser has been overwhelmingly positive. Dead by Daylight‘s community seems excited to learn more, and fans are already sharing what they want to see. Of course, some are just sharing a general enthusiasm that this is finally happening. It really shows just how much Dead by Daylight has grown. It’s also great news for fans of The Walking Dead, given the fact that recent games based on the property have left a lot to be desired.

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Hopefully Behaviour Interactive won’t keep fans waiting too long for some additional details. Dead by Daylight has featured crossovers with some really big horror franchises over the years, but this has the potential to be one of the biggest the game has ever seen. The Walking Dead was nothing short of a cultural phenomenon at one point, and though the popularity of the property has cooled down over the years, it’s still a really big get for the game, especially after the recent addition of Five Nights at Freddy’s content.

Do you plan on checking out this Dead by Daylight collaboration with The Walking Dead? Which characters do you want to see added from the series? Share your thoughts with me directly on Bluesky at @Marcdachamp, or on Instagram at @Dachampgaming!

The post Dead by Daylight Is Finally Getting a Crossover With The Walking Dead appeared first on ComicBook.com.

[Warning: This article contains spoilers from The Walking Dead: Dead City season 2 finale, “If History Were a Conflagration.”] “What’s the future without the past? What’s an ending without that old story?” That’s the question that Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) ponders in Sunday’s Dead City finale, which forces Maggie (Lauren Cohan) to find a way to move forward with her son Hershel (Logan Kim) by putting the past behind them. That “old story” is Maggie’s 15-year vendetta against Negan, one that started on The Walking Dead when Negan bludgeoned Glenn (Steven Yeun) to death with his barbed-wire baseball bat, widowing Maggie and leaving her unborn son without his father. And, in a way, his mother.

The series finale of The Walking Dead ended with Maggie and Negan reaching an uneasy détente. Negan apologized for killing Glenn, and Maggie acknowledged that she couldn’t forgive him, saying, “I don’t want to hate you anymore. I don’t want to hurt like that, and I don’t want my son to see that anybody has that kind of hold over me.” Maggie and Negan then went their separate ways, with Maggie relocating the Hilltop colony to the Bricks and Negan leaving Virginia with wife Annie (Medina Senghore) and son Joshua.

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In Dead City season 1, Maggie tracked down Negan after his former Savior underling, the Croat (Željko Ivanek), kidnapped Hershel and took him to the Isle of the Dead that is New York City. Negan, a wanted man on the run from New Babylon Marshal Perlie Armstrong (Gaius Charles), agreed to help Maggie get her son back from the Croat on one condition: she shelter his orphaned ward, Ginny (Mahina Napoleon).

It turned out that Negan also killed Ginny’s father, and that the Croat strongarmed Maggie into bringing the fugitive Negan from the mainland to Manhattan by taking her son. Maggie gave up Negan to the Croat, who proceeded to hand him over to the Dama (Lisa Emery), a power broker who wanted Negan to unite and lead the city’s gangs to defend the island’s resource — power-generating methane gas — from New Babylon, a Federation of States under the control of Governor Byrd (Jasmin Walker).

To recap, season 2 of Dead City has been a literal power struggle between New York’s main power players, which includes the Dama and Bruegel (Kim Coates), leader of a rival gang that the Dama tasked Negan with getting in line. Under threat of invasion by the New Babylonians, who sought to replace their dwindling ethanol supply with methane, Negan was able to convince Bruegel to join the Dama’s alliance — only for the gambling Bruegel to plot his own power grab.

Meanwhile, Negan turned the Croat against the Dama before exiling him from the Burazi, the Dama’s manipulations turned Hershel against Maggie, and Bruegel turned on Negan as he conspired with New Babylon Colonel Armstrong to seize the methane. Now that the table has been set, let’s break down “If History Were a Conflagration,” the eighth and final episode of this season, and how it sets up The Walking Dead: Dead City season 3.

How is the Dama alive?

It appeared that the Dama died during a Negan-caused confrontation with the Croat, long unappreciated and unacknowledged for his brilliance in producing the methane powering her empire. A physical altercation ensued, and the Croat tossed her into a table, knocking over lit candles that caused a fire. He then left the Dama to die as she was pinned beneath an overturned clothing rack while the room was consumed by flames.

The charred corpse that seemed to be the Dama was actually “one of the already dead,” she explains in the finale, telling Maggie she let the zombie “burn until she got nice and crispy.” (How the Dama managed to escape in order to fake her death with a walker goes unexplained.)

What does the Dama want with Hershel?

The Dama has a hold on Hershel, who resents his mother for the hold that Negan has had over Maggie his entire life.

Because Hershel never knew the “old world,” the Dama explains to Maggie, he can help build the new world. She tells Maggie her son could “dream up something that you and I never could,” and they’ll need someone to protect the new world.

The Dama wanted that to be Negan — first threatening to harm Hershel to coerce Negan into acting as her enforcer, and then using Negan’s family as her leverage — but after he turned the Croat against her and nearly got her killed, the Dama manipulates Maggie into going after Negan. Hershel told her how capable Maggie is, so the Dama sics the widow on the man who murdered her husband.

Why does Maggie go after Negan?

Episodes earlier, Negan told Maggie where she could find the methane for New Babylon before warning her that Hershel was helping the Dama. After Hershel led the Dama to his mother last episode, Maggie awakens as her prisoner.

“I would’ve thought that we have this in common, wanting Negan dead. But I understand,” the Dama tells Maggie. “When Negan is up, you feel the need to knock him down. And when he’s down, you have to prop him back up. You’re stuck in a loop. You can’t let it go. You can’t let him go. And how could you? He murdered your husband. Violently. Gleefully. After losing so many people who meant so much to you — your mother, your father, your sister, and now your son. He needed you.”

“But how could you be there for him when you couldn’t be there for yourself?” the Dama continues, accusing Maggie of neglecting Hershel and nurturing her hatred of Negan. “It’s
okay, Maggie. You can still get him back. Negan is still out there… widowing wives and orphaning children. Only you can stop him. Only you can kill him. Don’t do it for me. Do it for you. Do it for Hershel. Set yourselves free.”

How does Maggie feel about Negan?

Maggie admits to Hershel that she still hasn’t moved on despite trying to get past the hurt that Negan caused her.

“I’m not over it. I’ve never been over it,” Maggie says. “I think about him all the time. I think about what he did. And I know that I have to let it go. I know that it’s the only way. But no matter how hard I try, I can’t seem to do it. I’m sorry.” Hershel, apologizing for his betrayal, tells his mother he knows she’s tried. But it hasn’t worked.

“I want us to be a family. I want to move on, and be free,” Hershel says. “But there’s only one way. And then… we can just be done with it. We can start over.” To that, Maggie tells Hershel, “I’ll finish it.”

The Dama smiles, having maneuvered Maggie into taking out the rogue Negan.

New Lucille, Old Negan

Negan’s flamethrower and walker-wielding Burazi attack Bruegel’s gang of Silk Stockings at St. Patrick’s Cathedral after Armstrong learns that Ginny came to Bruegel while gunning for Negan to avenge her father. Despite her attempt to kill him, Negan risked his life to get Ginny antibiotics and a ventilator to help treat her worsening infection. (She was impaled during a scuffle between New Babylon and the Foragers in Central Park.)

Armstrong stops Bruegel from going after Ginny with a flamethrower, but Negan has them both captured by the Burazi. Bruegel blames the coup on Armstrong’s people and tries to talk his way into making a deal with Negan to get the methane, beat New Babylon, and bring back the old world “the way it used to be.”

“Not just a couple of blocks, but the whole city. The whole f—ing planet,” Bruegel pleads. “And then you and me, we’ll be back on top. The winners, with all the spoils… just like it used to be.”

Meanwhile, Maggie eavesdrops and watches as Negan — wielding the new electrified Lucille bat that the Croat made for him — forces Bruegel and Armstrong to their knees for a game of “eenie, meenie, miney, mo.” Maggie recoils in horror at the familiar sight: Negan in a black leather jacket, swinging a barbed wire-covered baseball bat, picking a victim in a lineup as he did all those years ago with Glenn…

Who dies in The Walking Dead: Dead City season 2 finale?

“Eenie, meenie, miney, mo. Catch a tiger by his toe. If he hollers, let him go. Eenie… meenie… miney… mo.” Negan lands on Armstrong, but decides he wants to kill Bruegel first. As Bruegel begs for his life, Negan grabs a tube from the flamethrower tank, inserts it into Bruegel’s mouth, and forces him to inhale methane.

Negan grabs a lit torch and sets fire to Bruegel’s big mouth, and then brings the bat down on his head, bashing Bruegel’s brains into pulp — and triggering a visceral reaction in the shivering Maggie.

Before he can swing on Armstrong, Maggie sneaks up behind Negan and stabs him in the back. Negan drops Lucille and flees, leaving Maggie to pick up the replica of the bat used to kill Glenn. As Negan crawls away, slithering to safety, Maggie goes after him to finish it once and for all.

Does Maggie kill Negan?

Negan gets to the cell where Ginny has been recuperating — only to find that Ginny died, having succumbed to her infection and reanimated. Negan sobs and Maggie withdraws a blade. Softened, Maggie hands it to Negan to plunge the blade into Ginny’s head, putting her down.

Negan mourns Ginny’s death, and Maggie decides against killing him.

How does The Walking Dead: Dead City season 2 ending set up season 3?

Negan regrets that Ginny died alone, and Maggie goes back to Hershel. He knows she didn’t kill Negan.

“You said you understood. You said we could start over, but you didn’t mean it,” he yells as the Dama sneaks away. “It’s the same as it always is.”

“We were wrong. It’s not like how we said. And killing Negan would only make it worse,” Maggie tells Hershel, adding that’s not how they’re going to move forward from the past. He’s furious with his mother and says he and the Dama will “get there together.”

“I know what you’re going through,” Maggie responds. “You think that you wanna run off and be somebody different. You wanna hurt me. You wanna hurt me back. Just know I will always be here for you. I won’t leave the city.” 
Hershel leaves to go off with the Dama, and Maggie cries as mother and son are separated.

Maggie, Negan, and Armstrong hole up in the city as they watch the second wave of the New Babylon army march into New York to seize the methane. “So where do we go from here?” Maggie asks.

Armstrong recalls the riddle that Roksana (Pooya Mohseni) of the Foragers imparted to him earlier in the season. “Walking through the woods, a man comes to a fork in his path. To go left is to go home, his past. To go right is to go out into the unknown, his future,” he says. “He knows his past. It’s comforting. But will it be like he remembers? And his future is full of possibilities. But what if he gets lost? Which way does he go? He goes left.”

We see flip-flopping New Babylon historian Benjamin Pierce (Keir Gilchrist) lead the New Babylonians to the methane plant as Maggie narrates the next section of the riddle. “Back home, to the way things were. But all that’s waiting for him is an old story that hurts too much to remember.”

Elsewhere, the Dama, with Hershel at her side, watches New Babylon take the cathedral. “So he goes right, but there’s nothing there for him either,” Negan intones in voice over. “Because what’s the future without the past? What’s an ending without that old story?”

“The truth is there is only one way forward. One way to move on. We gotta work through what was,” Maggie continues, with Negan’s voice adding, “To get to what will be.” Maggie and Negan’s words play over the past, from the first season, when the enemies made their way into New York together.

Maggie and Negan’s voices become intertwined. “It’s a path that’s hard and rough, all uphill. We keep thinking we’ll never make it. Sometimes we see where we’re headed. We catch a glimpse of the mountaintop. It’s so beautiful, it takes our breath away. 
But then we lose our footing.
 We tumble backwards, right back to the bottom. So that it feels like we’ll never get up again… 
But we do. We help each other up. 
And the path becomes much clearer now.”

“We move on,” Negan remarks, with Maggie finishing, “Together.” In the final words of the season, Maggie and Negan say together: “And we get there.”

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The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon Season 3 Trailer Reveals Premiere Date With Daryl & Carol in Spain

The post The Walking Dead: Dead City Season 2 Ending, Explained – and What’s Next for Maggie & Negan appeared first on ComicBook.com.

Esperanza, when translated from Spanish to English, means “hope.” For Americans and best friends Daryl (Norman Reedus) and Carol (Melissa McBride), their hope is to make it home in The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon season 3. During Sunday’s season 2 finale of The Walking Dead: Dead City, AMC aired a new teaser for the upcoming season sending Daryl and Carol to Spain when the Walking Dead spinoff returns Sunday, September 7 on AMC and AMC+.

“Felt like something got lost,” a poncho-clad Daryl says in the footage. “A chance to really have something.” But as Carol points out, “First you survive what happened to you. Then you start living again.”

The teaser introduces Eduardo Noriega’s Antonio — who appears to take an interest in Carol — and Alexandra Masangkay’s Paz, who “lost all hope” when the world fell apart.

“A new fight begins,” a title card reads as Daryl and Carol join Noriega and Masangkay’s characters in defending a Spanish village against a horde of walkers set aflame. “A friend of mine used to say ‘bet on hope,'” says Daryl, referencing lost love Isabelle (Clémence Poésy), the French woman who asked him “why not bet on hope?” when they first met.

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Season 3 of Daryl Dixon — which was shot in Madrid and across Spain’s Galicia, Aragón, Catalonia and Valencia regions — follows Daryl Dixon and Carol Peletier as “they continue their journey to somehow return home and to the ones they love,” per the official logline. “As they struggle to find their way back, the path takes them farther astray, leading them through distant lands with ever-changing and unfamiliar conditions as they witness the various effects of the Walker apocalypse.”

AMC also released a batch of new images from the season, below, revealing the first look at Óscar Jaenada’s Fede, one of several new characters set to appear as Daryl and Carol make their way from France to London and then Spain on their journey home to America.

“The characters should not settle down. It should be a road show. They have to keep moving [to return home],” showrunner David Zabel told The Hollywood Reporter about the London and Spain-set Daryl Dixon season 3. “At the end of season two, they’re going somewhere. We don’t know exactly where, and it’s not a direct line to the next place they go. But the idea is to keep the characters struggling and striving to get home and moving.”

After spending the first two seasons in France, Zabel said of exploring other cultures through the zombie apocalypse lens, “That’s going to be so exciting for reinventing the show. It felt like all signs pointed toward us continuing to move and get to the next place. In seasons five and six, it could be a different place. They’ll keep moving until they get home!”

AMC already announced that Walking Dead Universe newcomers Eduardo Noriega (The Devil’s Backbone, Vantage Point), Óscar Jaenada (Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, Hernán) and Alexandra Masangkay (The Platform, Valley of Shadows) have been cast as series regulars, in addition to Candela Saitta (Máxima, Último primer día) and Hugo Arbués (Through My Window, Past Lies). Also cast in undisclosed roles: Greta Fernández (Los Bárbaros), Gonzalo Bouza (That Dirty Black Bag), Hada Nieto, Yassmine Othman (And Tomorrow We Will Be Dead), Cuco Usín (Kaos), and Stephen Merchant (The Office UK).

Norman Reedus as Daryl Dixon

Melissa McBride as Carol Peletier

Eduardo Noriega as Antonio

Alexandra Masangkay as Paz

Óscar Jaenada as Fede

Melissa McBride as Carol and Norman Reedus as Daryl

The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon season 3 premieres Sunday, Sept. 7 on AMC and AMC+.

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The Walking Dead: Dead City Season 2 Ending, Explained – and What’s Next for Maggie & Negan

The post The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon Season 3 Trailer Reveals Premiere Date With Daryl & Carol in Spain appeared first on ComicBook.com.

[Warning: This article contains spoilers for The Walking Dead: Dead City season 2 episode “Novi Dan, Novi Početak.”] It’s said that New York is the city that never sleeps, but the same can’t be said of its undead denizens. The penultimate episode of Dead Cityseason 2 sent Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) on a mission in search of antibiotics for Ginny (Mahina Napoleon), his wounded ward suffering from a worsening infection. Learning that Bellevue Hospital holds a stash of old but better-than-nothing medicine, Negan made his way to the hospital teeming with walkers, only to find them… slumbering?

Negan gingerly navigated his way through a room full of reanimated children that subtitles described as “dormant walkers,” which stood around unmoving but open-eyed — even as Negan maneuvered around them.

Although this behavior is uncommon, these aren’t new walkers: “dormant walkers” have appeared as far back as The Walking Dead pilot, when Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln) first made the trek into overrun Atlanta.

Robert Kirkman’s comics coined the term “lurkers” for walkers who lie dormant, only for Aaron (Ross Marquand) to use the same terminology as he discussed the variant walkers capable of climbing walls and open doors in season 11 of The Walking Dead. “There are roamers and lurkers,” Aaron said of the two main types of zombies: active (roamers) and inactive (lurkers).

It was a dormant walker that bit Hershel (Scott Wilson) way back in The Walking Dead‘s third season. As Rick, Hershel, Maggie (Lauren Cohan), Glenn (Steven Yeun), T-Dog (IronE Singleton), and Daryl (Norman Reedus) cleared the prison halls of walkers, they passed by a seemingly dead walker without incident.

But when Hershel went back into the darkness to find Maggie and Glenn, stepping over a walker that appeared dead, it suddenly sprung awake and bit him on the heel, forcing Rick to amputate Hershel’s leg before the infection could spread.

The Walking Dead season 11 premiere, “Acheron: Part 1,” also featured dormant walkers in a sequence where the Alexandrians scavenged a military base for MREs (Meals Ready-to-Eat). In the mostly silent, nearly 10-minute scene, the group snuck past lurkers lying on the floor, only to then have to fight their way out as the dozing dead were awakened. (You can watch the sequence in the video below.)

“We know that we have some different kinds of walkers in the show already,” The Walking Dead showrunner and executive producer Angela Kang explained at the time of those so-called “sleeper” walkers. “We started the season with this idea of the lurkers, which are the ones that can go dormant sometimes but are still dangerous when they wake back up.”

The Walking Dead: Dead City season 2 finale airs Sunday, June 22, on AMC and AMC+.

The post The Walking Dead: Where You’ve Seen Dead City’s Dormant Zombies Before appeared first on ComicBook.com.

One of the best things about The Walking Dead and its spinoff shows is that the series has seldom been afraid to kill its darlings. The state of the zombie-infested world meant that any character, whether they be minor, supporting, or even main, were at risk of losing their life, practically constantly. Unfortunately, however, this meant that some fan-favorite characters were lost long before their time. There are countless characters from The Walking Dead who were killed off before they could really live up to their full potential.

Back in 2010, The Walking Dead Season 1 introduced the first roster of its strong ensemble cast. In the decade-and-a-half since, only three members of this original cast remain, Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln), Carol Peletier (Melissa McBride), and Daryl Dixon (Norman Reedus), while everyone else has fallen victim to dangerous Walkers, twisted humans, or tragic accidents. Killing off main characters has allowed new ones to fill the gaps, but had the side effect of removing some beloved fixtures of the series, even when we wanted to see more.

10) Sophia Peletier

One of the earliest major deaths in The Walking Dead was that of Sophia (Madison Lintz), Carol’s young daughter. In the Season 2 premiere, “What Lies Ahead,” Sophia became separated from the group, so the first half of Season 2 was dedicated to the search effort. Sophia was revealed to have died in the mid-season finale, “Pretty Much Dead Already,” which saw her exit the Greene family farm’s barn along with other Walkers that Otis (Pruitt Taylor Vince) had been stashing there.

In the original The Walking Dead comic series, Sophia survives far longer than her live-action counterpart. In fact, she survives until the end of Robert Kirkman’s storyline, eventually becoming Carl Grimes’ wife, with the pair starting a family together. She is the comic’s longest-surviving female character, while it’s Carol who has this honor in the live-action series. Sophia’s death in The Walking Dead Season 2 was one of the biggest deviations from the comic narrative, and had a massive impact on the other survivors.

9) Noah

With no counterpart in The Walking Dead comics, it was interesting to see where the live-action show was taking Noah (Tyler James Williams). Unfortunately, this actually ended up to be nowhere. Noah debuted in The Walking Dead Season 5, Episode 4, “Slabtown,” which revealed that Beth Greene (Emily Kinney) had been taken to the Grady Memorial Hospital after being separated from Daryl. She sacrificed her freedom to let him escape, but he later teamed up with her family to save her, ultimately culminating in her demise.

Noah joined the group and traveled with them to Alexandria, but was then devoured by Walkers while on a run with Glenn (Steven Yeun) and Nicholas (Michael Traynor) in The Walking Dead Season 5, Episode 14, “Spend,” only ten episodes after his debut. Noah had been teased to be wanting to help with the expansion of Alexandria, learning architecture and building techniques, which would have been great to watch. He was ultimately wasted, which was a huge shame.

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8) Jacqui

Remember Jacqui? Cast your minds back to The Walking Dead’s six-episode-long first season, which introduced Jacqui (Jeryl Prescott Sales) as a member of the surviving group outside Atlanta. Jacqui was one of the more emotionally-intelligent characters in the show’s first season, but this culminated in her choosing to “opt-out” in Season 1’s finale, “TS-19.” Jacqui died alongside Dr. Edwin Jenner (Noah Emmerich) when the CDC building exploded. She had no counterpart in The Walking Dead’s comic series, so it’s unclear why she was created for the show just to be killed so quickly.

7) Theodore “T-Dog” Douglas

T-Dog (IronE Singleton) was created specifically for The Walking Dead’s live-action adaptation so that the series could explore themes, including racism, that were seldom investigated head-on in the comic series. Despite this singular purpose, T-Dog went on to become a fan-favorite character in the series, which made his sacrifice to save Carol in The Walking Dead Season 3, Episode 4, “Killer Within,” even more heartbreaking. It would have been great to see where T-Dog could have been taken next, but at least he received a hero’s death.

6) Abraham Ford

As one of the most iconic characters in The Walking Dead, it was a huge shock when Abraham (Michael Cudlitz) fell victim to Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) and his barbed wire-wrapped baseball bat, Lucille, in the Season 7 premiere, “The Day Will Come When You Won’t Be.” Abraham was a formidable member of the survivors’ group, a strong fighter, skilled with weapons, and a romantic, having formed close relationships with both Rosita (Christian Serratos) and Sasha (Sonequa Martin Green). Abraham deserved to make it to the end, so it was horrible to see him brutally murdered by Negan.

5) Merle Dixon

The brother of Daryl Dixon, both of whom were created for the show, Merle (Michael Rooker) was one of the most abrasive and controversial characters. Many were surely happy to see Merle killed by the Governor (David Morrissey) in The Walking Dead Season 3, Episode 15, “This Sorrowful Life.” Even so, Merle was just beginning to become a more well-rounded character and a functional member of the group, he even let Michonne (Danai Gurira) go when he initially intended to hand her over to the Governor, so it was a shame to lose him before he could seek complete redemption.

4) Andrea Harrison

Andrea (Laurie Holden) is considered to be one of the most wasted characters in The Walking Dead, as she was far different from her comic series counterpart. After being separated from her group during the farm fire, Andrea found Michonne, and the pair were taken to Woodbury together. Andrea’s romance with the Governor eventually led to her demise, however, as she was kidnapped and ultimately bitten for trying to escape Woodbury and rejoin her old group at the prison. This was an epic deviation from the comics, in which Andrea eventually becomes Rick Grimes’ wife.

“I got the official word a few days before we began principal photography on the finale,” explained Laurie Holden to The Hollywood Reporter in a 2013 interview. “It was a shock to everyone. It was never part of the original story document for season three… Andrea was always supposed to save Woodbury… The executive producers and the writing staff didn’t want it to happen and were cheerleaders for me. It was a difficult decision and a hard decision but at the end of the day, it may have been the right decision.” Everyone agrees that Andrea deserved more.

3) Paul “Jesus” Rovia

The situation was similarly dire for Paul “Jesus” Rovia (Tom Payne), who was an essential member of the Hilltop Colony, becoming an advisor to Maggie (Lauren Cohan) after she replaced Gregory (Xander Berkeley). While he’d been at the center of interesting storylines, and had a growing romance with Aaron (Ross Marquand), as he did in the comics, Jesus was killed by Whisperers in The Walking Dead Season 9, Episode 8, “Evolution.” Payne had become bored with the role and wanted to explore other opportunities, so asked for Jesus to be killed, deviating from the comics and removing a fan-favorite character.

2) Siddiq

Another character who made it all the way to the end in The Walking Dead’s comic series, but was killed off before his time in the live-action show, was Siddiq (Avi Nash). Siddiq’s death was even more heartbreaking, however, because of the circumstances that introduced him to the group, and his current status as a devoted father. Carl Grimes (Chandler Riggs) died saving Siddiq – more on that soon – only for him to be killed by the Whisperer Dante (Juan Javier Cardenas). This ultimately meant Carl’s sacrifice was meaningless, which was quite the insult for the series.

1) Carl Grimes

Audiences watched Carl Grimes grow up in The Walking Dead, as he debuted in Season 1 as a child, and lived his entire childhood and early adolescence in the apocalypse. This forged him into a hardened warrior, but he always manage to also retain his heart and compassion, albeit while making some mistakes along the way. The son of Rick Grimes and Lori (Sarah Wayne Callies), it was absolutely devastating to see Carl lose his life in The Walking Dead Season 8, Episode 9, “Honor,” after being bitten by a Walker while saving Siddiq in the woods.

Carl’s death in The Walking Dead was perhaps the TV show’s biggest deviation from the comic series, as it’s an older and more-hardened Carl who’s left as the main protagonist in The Walking Dead’s final comic issue. Carl died in place of his father, as it’s Rick who loses his life in the comics at the hands of Sebastian Milton. Carl’s death contributed to one of The Walking Dead’s most emotional and tear-jerking moments. It would have been brilliant to see him join Daryl, Carol, and his own father, Rick, as one of the longest-surviving characters in The Walking Dead.

Which characters do you wish had stuck around in The Walking Dead for longer? Let us know in the comments!

The post 10 Iconic Walking Dead Characters Who Were Killed Off Way Too Soon appeared first on ComicBook.com.

Many formidable and terrifying villains posed a threat to Rick Grimes and his group of survivors in The Walking Dead. Spanning 11 seasons over 12 years, The Walking Dead became one of the most successful and popular TV shows in history, and the performances of both its protagonists and antagonists, all fighting for survival in a world infested by undead “Walkers,” helped the series achieve this acclaim. Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln) and his found family were at the heart of The Walking Dead, but many other survivors of the zombie apocalypse weren’t so agreeable.

The Walking Dead spawned a number of spinoffs that have also achieved their own successes, including Fear the Walking Dead, The Walking Dead: The World Beyond, Dead City, Daryl Dixon, The Ones Who Live, and Tales of the Walking Dead. Most of the most impressive and haunting villains in the franchise have been contained to the parent show, however, which first hit our screens in October 2010. While there are many incredible villains in The Walking Dead, there are some that really left their mark on the series.

7) Pamela Milton

While Pamela Milton, played by Laila Robbins, may not have been the most sinister or popular antagonist in The Walking Dead, the fact that she was the final villain fought by our group of survivors means she will always have a significant role in the series. Milton was the Governor of the Commonwealth who welcomed in several members of our group, though, through blackmail, lies, manipulations, and betrayals, she became a staunch enemy to the Coalition. She eventually tries to eradicate them in a trap, but a revolution ends with her being imprisoned and supplanted with Ezekiel (Khary Payton).

6) Gareth & Terminus

Introduced in The Walking Dead Season 4, the concept of Terminus almost seemed too good to be true. After the Governor destroys the prison and the group living there disperses, they all follow the train tracks to reunite at Terminus, but this brings them right into the path of a group of cannibals led by the truly sinister Gareth (Andrew J. West). In Season 5, Gareth and the group running from a destroyed Terminus eat some of Bob (Lawrence Gilliard Jr.) and threaten more before being brutally killed by Rick and his angered group at Father Gabriel’s (Seth Gilliam) church.

5) Merle Dixon

Sure, Merle Dixon (Michael Rooker) somewhat redeemed himself in the episodes prior to his demise in The Walking Dead Season 3, but he started as a hateful and controversial antagonist to Rick Grimes and his own brother, Daryl Dixon (Norman Reedus). Merle sexism, racism, misogyny – the list goes on – made him a sour addition to The Walking Dead, especially when interacting with the likes of Rick, Michonne (Danai Gurira), Glenn (Steven Yeun), and more. Merle was a dangerous and unpredictable villain, and yet, he’s still been sorely missed in the years since his death.

4) Shane Walsh

Played by Jon Bernthal in his breakout role, Shane Walsh was one of The Walking Dead’s original antagonists, as he opposed Rick many times in Seasons 1 and 2. Following Rick’s presumed death, Shane helped Rick’s wife Lori (Sarah Wayne Callies) and son Carl (Chandler Riggs) escape from Atlanta. He subsequently fell in love with Lori and started a sexual relationship with her, only for Rick to return. Shane carried out some heinous acts because of his obsession with Lori, including killing Otis (Pruitt Taylor Vince), threatening Dale (Jeffrey DeMunn), and even trying to kill Rick, though Rick was quicker.

3) The Governor

The first true villain in The Walking Dead, a real rival to Rick Grimes, the Governor, aka Philip Blake (David Morrissey), was the leader of the Woodbury community who sought to eradicate Rick’s group out of “protection” of his own subjects. Ruthless, twisted, and an expert manipulator, the Governor was a truly terrifying antagonist who causes the deaths of many primary characters, including Merle, Milton (Dallas Roberts), and Andrea (Laurie Holden), while he also attacked and traumatized others, including Glenn and Maggie (Lauren Cohan). The Governor’s impact on The Walking Dead was prominent for many years following his death.

2) Negan & The Saviors

If you thought the Governor was scary, Jeffrey Dean Morgan’s Negan was next-level. Negan used his own idea of saving people to subjugate the “Saviors” beneath his rule, stripping them of individuality and putting them under his boot through fear – most notably the fear of falling victim to Negan’s barbed wire-wrapped baseball bat, Lucille. Negan’s war against Rick led to the deaths of several main characters, including Glenn, Abraham (Michael Cudlitz), and Sasha (Sonequa Martin Green). Negan later became something of an ally, but his impact as a totalitarian villain is still being felt in The Walking Dead: Dead City.

1) Alpha & The Whisperers

Of course, Negan is up there with the most terrifying villains in The Walking Dead, and he’s become the longest-running antagonist, but Samantha Morton’s Alpha was arguably even more formidable than him. Alpha believed humans to have reverted to nothing more than animals following the fall of civilization, so led her group like the alpha of a pack. This led to immense apathy when faced with anyone’s death, whether in her group or not, and this included her own daughter, Lydia (Cassady McClincy). Alpha brutally murdered many characters while walking among the Walkers by donning their skinned faces.

[RELATED: Tales of the Walking Dead’s Alpha Timeline, Explained]

The Whisperers were the primary antagonists of The Walking Dead Seasons 9 and 10, which ended with Negan killing Alpha and Daryl killing Beta (Ryan Hurst). They used their skin-masks to hide among the Walkers, and even sent spies into the ranks of our group of survivors. The likes of Tara (Alanna Masterson), Henry (Macsen Lintz), Enid (Katelyn Nacon), Siddiq (Avi Nash), and more were killed by Whisperers, and Alpha even put Negan under her command for a while, proving she is the most powerful, influential, and harrowing villain in The Walking Dead.

Who are your favorite villains in The Walking Dead? Let us know in the comments!

The post 7 Best Walking Dead Villains, Ranked appeared first on ComicBook.com.

Putrefaction is the stage of death where decaying corpses produce gases like methane, but one zombie went method on the set of The Walking Dead. According to actor Ross Marquand, who played Aaron on seven seasons of the AMC zombie drama, his second-ever episode of the series contained what might be a first for The Walking Dead: a farting zombie.

To recap, the season 5 episode titled “The Distance” saw Aaron lead a suspicious Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln), Michonne (Danai Gurira), and Glenn (Steven Yeun) to his home community of Alexandria. When their blood-splattered car runs down some walkers and stalls out, Aaron, hands still bound, panics and runs into the woods as Michonne removes severed limbs from the grille. Glenn gets separated from Rick and Michonne, and he finds Aaron backed up against a tree trunk and kicking away a hungry walker.

We have the moment cued up for you in the video below:

RELATED: Ross Marquand Didn’t Know He Was Cast in an Avengers Movie Until He Was On Set: “I Almost Passed Out”

During a panel at Awesome Con in Washington, D.C., Marquand recounted how a gassy zombie made for his “funniest” moment on The Walking Dead.

“I get cornered in the middle of the woods by this walker who keeps coming at me, and we had just finished lunch. We had just come back from a very big lunch,” Marquand said. “The lunches down there were amazing. They had the best catering spread. We were all just eating tons of food.”

“And this poor guy, it was a stunt guy, he had a pad [on his stomach]. And I had to kick him because my hands were tied up,” he continued. “I was just kind of pushed up against this tree, and I kicked him every time. And every time I kicked him, I kid you not, he would fart so loud. He would not stop farting.”

An amused Marquand recalled that the take couldn’t be used, something he confirmed with then-boom operator Cooper Andrews (who would later join the cast as Jerry).

“Our sound guy was [Andrews] that day. Jerry from The Walking Dead was actually our sound guy before he was an actor on the show, fun fact. I just looked over at him and I was like, ‘We can’t use this, right?’ He’s like, ‘No. We can’t,'” he laughed. “We had to kind of yell cut and say, ‘Do you need anything? Do you gotta go to the bathroom?’ He’s like, ‘Sorry, man, I just had a big lunch.’ So that was probably the funniest thing on the set.”

Marquand also took the opportunity to reflect on a gross-out scene from Yeun’s final episode. In the season 7 episode “The Day Will Come When You Won’t Be,” Glenn is brutally murdered by Jeffrey Dean Morgan’s Negan, who used a barbed-wire-covered baseball bat to beat Glenn to death.

“The eyeball was just dangling out of Steven’s head” between takes, Marquand recalled. “Remember those paddle balls you play with? His eyeball was bouncing around as he was talking. It was like, ‘What are you going to do after this?’ He’s like, ‘I think I got a new role on Voltron [Legendary Defender], I’m going to do some voiceover work.’ I was like, ‘Can you just stop moving your head for a second? I’m going to throw up [laughs].”

“It looked so disgusting,” Marquand said. “It’s a credit to the special effects team. I mean, they make all of these terrible moments look real.”

Watch Marquand’s panel appearance above.

The post The Walking Dead Star Recalls Scene That Couldn’t Be Used Because of a Farting Zombie appeared first on ComicBook.com.

There are some new faces in The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon season 3, even if some of those new faces are dead faces. As Daryl (Norman Reedus) and Carol (Melissa McBride) make their way from France to England to find a way across the Atlantic Ocean, the duo will somehow wind up in Spain. But first, they’ll encounter a seemingly friendly survivor in London (played by The Office UK star and co-creator Stephen Merchant) and then groups of seemingly unfriendly survivors in Spain: a pack of ax-wielding bikers who look straight out of Mad Max, and skull-clad Viking types on horseback.

“It’s not so great out there in the world,” Daryl says in the footage before readying a rifle in what appears to be a raid on a Spanish village.

RELATED: How The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon Season 2 Finale Set up Season 3

Here’s the bare-bones logline: “Season three will follow Daryl Dixon and Carol Peletier as they continue their journey to somehow return home and to the ones they love. As they struggle to find their way back, the path takes them farther astray, leading them through distant lands with ever-changing and unfamiliar conditions as they witness the various effects of the Walker apocalypse.”

“The characters should not settle down. It should be a road show. They have to keep moving [to return home],” showrunner David Zabel told The Hollywood Reporter about the London and Spain-set Daryl Dixon season 3. “At the end of season two, they’re going somewhere. We don’t know exactly where, and it’s not a direct line to the next place they go. But the idea is to keep the characters struggling and striving to get home and moving.”

After spending the first two seasons in France, Zabel said of exploring other cultures through the zombie apocalypse lens, “That’s going to be so exciting for reinventing the show. It felt like all signs pointed toward us continuing to move and get to the next place. In seasons five and six, it could be a different place. They’ll keep moving until they get home!”

Season 3 was based in Madrid, with extensive location shooting in the Galicia, Aragón, Catalonia and Valencia regions.

AMC already announced that Walking Dead Universe newcomers Eduardo Noriega (The Devil’s Backbone, Vantage Point), Óscar Jaenada (Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, Hernán) and Alexandra Masangkay (The Platform, Valley of Shadows) have been cast as series regulars, in addition to Candela Saitta (Máxima, Último primer día) and Hugo Arbués (Through My Window, Past Lies). Also cast in undisclosed roles: Greta Fernández (Los Bárbaros), Gonzalo Bouza (That Dirty Black Bag), Hada Nieto, Yassmine Othman (And Tomorrow We Will Be Dead), and Cuco Usín (Kaos).

The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon season 3 airs this fall on AMC and AMC+.

The post The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon Season 3 Teases New Villains & New Faces appeared first on ComicBook.com.

When AMC’s The Walking Dead kicks off, the plot is pretty straightforward: Rick Grimes wakes up after being in a coma to a world run by the undead and has to do everything he can to survive. Eventually, he meets up with his family, and they spend several seasons avoiding the hordes of walkers that roam Georgia. However, the apocalypse creates more threats in the form of people who lose their humanity. They want to seize as much power as they can in a world that has little, and Rick usually doesn’t agree with their methods, leading to massive conflicts.

The rest of The Walking Dead focuses on Rick’s group fighting the living and the dead, and they deal with their fair share of losses along the way. It all comes to an end in Season 11, which finally sees characters who have been doing nothing but fighting find some semblance of peace. Despite having all that time, though, The Walking Dead still fails to answer plenty of questions.

1) Where Does Heath Go?

After leaving Georgia in their rearview, Rick and Co. find themselves in Alexandria, a community in Virginia that is safe from outside threats. Initially, the people of Alexandria have a hard time understanding why their new friends are so paranoid, but it soon becomes clear just how dangerous the world is.

Heath is one of the Alexandria residents who joins Rick’s side, and he frequently goes on supply runs after things calm down. Unfortunately, while on a run with Tara in Season 7, he disappears and never returns to the show. It comes to light that he ends up with the Civic Republic Military at one point, but there’s no update after that.

2) Is Judith Really Shane’s Child?

Rick’s wife, Lori, believes he’s dead at the start of the series because he’s in a coma in a hospital when the outbreak happens. His partner, Shane, helps Lori and her son, Carl, get to safety, and sparks start to fly after that. Shane and Lori start hooking up, which becomes a major issue when Rick shows up.

Lori cuts things off with Shane, and he isn’t too happy about that. He pushes Rick for two seasons, forcing Rick to take out his best friend when things go too far. Around the same time, Lori reveals that she’s pregnant, and while the identity of the father should be important, there isn’t much time to discuss it. Rick mentions to Shane in a vision later in the show that he doesn’t think Judith is his, but that’s far from confirmation.

3) How Do Cars Still Have Viable Gas?

Supply runs in The Walking Dead are important because resources are finite. There aren’t factories pumping out food and clothing, so whatever’s left is up for grabs. However, there’s one resource that’s never difficult to find: gas.

Throughout the AMC show, characters jump into cars and just drive without any issues. In reality, Gas has a short shelf life, and unless gas stations are getting restocked by a magical fairy, there’s no reason things should be going so smoothly. It’s not the biggest plot hole in the show, but it’s worth mentioning.

4) Why Did Rosita Have to Die?

Very few characters who join The Walking Dead in its first couple of seasons live to the end. There are the heavyweights, such as Daryl, Carol, Rick, Maggie, and Michonne, as well as a few other notable faces, including Gabriel and Eugene. Rosita appears well on her way to making that list in Season 11, but she dies in the last episode of the show.

While fighting to protect her daughter, Rosita ends up on the wrong end of a walker bite. She gets to say goodbye to her friends and family in a beautiful moment, but it doesn’t feel like a necessary one. The Walking Dead likely just wanted to drop one last gut punch before calling it quits.

[RELATED – The Walking Dead Fans Blame Rick Grimes for Sophia’s Fate]

5) Does Pamela Ever Get Out of Jail?

The Walking Dead features its fair share of great villains. The Governor uses military equipment to terrorize Rick’s crew, while Negan kills Abraham and Glenn without a second thought. The bad guy who gets the honor of being the show’s last, though, is Pamela, the leader of the Commonwealth.

Pamela is careless with the lives of her people, luring walkers to the gates of the Commonwealth to prove a point. The residents catch wind of her scheme and overthrow her, leading to her calling a jail cell home. However, despite a time jump and multiple spinoffs, The Walking Dead franchise has yet to mention the villain again.

6) What Happens to Grady Memorial Hospital?

While the gang is still in Georgia, Beth Greene, Maggie’s sister, ends up a prisoner in Grady Memorial Hospital. The woman who runs the place, Dawn Lerner, is a former cop trying her best to keep things together. Unfortunately, she doesn’t instill much confidence in her allies because she doesn’t let them have free will.

Beth’s friends eventually arrive to rescue her, and things get out of hand fast. Beth attacks Dawn, which makes the cop act on instinct and shoot. Beth and Dawn both die, and the two groups go their separate ways. That’s the last time Grady Memorial Hospital appears in The Walking Dead, leaving it as one of the show’s great mysteries.

7) Will There Ever Be a Cure for the Virus?

Early in The Walking Dead, the focus is on finding a cure to the outbreak. The gang heads to the CDC in Atlanta to get answers, and all they learn is that they’re all infected and will turn when they die. After that, the cure takes a backseat because the fight for survival is more important.

The Walking Dead spinoff shows continue to tease potential cures, including one involving fungi in The Walking Dead: World Beyond. However, there isn’t much movement, making it seem as if the undead will always be part of the franchise’s reality.

The Walking Dead is streaming on Netflix.

Do you want answers to the questions on this list? What other The Walking Dead mysteries still bother you? Let us know in the comments below!

The post 7 Questions The Walking Dead Fans Still Want Answered appeared first on ComicBook.com.

[Warning: This article contains spoilers for The Walking Dead: Dead City season 2 episode 4, “Feisty Friendly.”] It can be difficult keeping track of time in the apocalypse. We know that August 27, 2010, is the day the world ended in The Walking Dead universe, and that The Walking Dead: Dead City takes place furthest in the timeline (season 2 is set circa 2027). In the first season, Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) generously estimates he first formed the Saviors some “12, 15 years ago,” not long before Negan’s gang forced the pregnant Maggie (Lauren Cohan) and her husband Glenn (Steven Yeun) to their knees in the sixth season finale of The Walking Dead.

Glenn’s “Last Day on Earth,” as the episode was titled, was in 2012. Months after Negan took his barbed wire-wrapped baseball bat to Glenn’s head, Maggie gave birth to Glenn’s son, the now 15-year-old Hershel Rhee (Logan Kim).

That means that Glenn died just about two years into the apocalypse, and that the events of the first seven seasons of The Walking Dead — from the CDC, to the farm, the prison, and then to Terminus and Alexandria — all happened in the span of less than 24 months. So it’s understandable that Maggie may have misremembered when a sweet moment with her late husband actually took place.

RELATED: The Walking Dead: Dead City’s Hershel Twist Explained

In Sunday’s “Feisty Friendly” episode of Dead City, Maggie and New Babylon Federation Colonel Perlie Armstrong (Gaius Charles) reminiscence about the old world and the food they miss most. For Armstrong, it’s a breakfast sandwich you’d get from a hole-in-the-wall bodega. For Maggie, it’s a Kit-Kat.

“Sometimes, early on, you’d luck out and find a candy bar. Last time I saw a candy bar was three years in. It was my birthday, and he surprised me,” Maggie recalls somberly, referencing Glenn without uttering his name.

That scene has now come under scrutiny as a potential timeline discrepancy. “Three years in” to the apocalypse would date Maggie’s candy bar birthday present from Glenn to have happened in 2013, by which time Glenn was dead.

It’s not a scene that played out on The Walking Dead, so it’s hard to say for sure when the exchange might have happened. But there was about an eight-month time jump between seasons 2 and 3 (when Maggie, Glenn, and the rest of group left the Greene farm for the prison), and another months-long time skip between seasons 3 and 4. There’s also about a month between the death of Maggie’s sister, Beth (Emily Kinney), and the group arriving at Alexandria in season 5. Some two weeks after that, Maggie reveals she’s pregnant, and Glenn dies not even two months later.

As difficult as it may be to believe that Maggie misremembered the last time she broke off a piece of a Kit-Kat bar some 15 years ago, a lot happened in a short amount of time. And let’s remember: there’s no real keeping track of time in the apocalypse.

New episodes of The Walking Dead: Dead City season 2 air Sundays on AMC and AMC+.

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Characters die in comic books all the time. The death of an important friend or loved one is a classic way to either inspire or enrage a hero, villains dying can make for some of the most downright insane encounters and fallout, and a hero dying can be one of the most emotionally impactful moments of an entire run. Even with death being a revolving door in most modern day comics, some of the most important and remembered moments of all time are the deaths of beloved characters. However, not all deaths are remembered for being beautiful, climactic moments. Some stay in the public consciousness because of how horrific they are, and how they nearly made the readers puke all over their graphic novels.

Let’s take a look at seven of the most gruesome and stomach-wrenching ways comic book characters have met their makers over the years. If you’re squeamish or don’t want to see your favorite characters’ guts strewn across the panel, I suggest you look away. But if you clicked on this list you know what you’re here for, so let’s get into it.

7) Alex DeWitt Invented Fridging

Alexandra DeWitt was first introduced as the girlfriend of Kyle Rayner, then the new Green Lantern. In Green Lantern volume three #54, Alex is attacked and killed by Green Lantern’s then enemy Major Force. Major Force doesn’t just kill Alex, but instead brutally rips her apart and shoves her mangled, dismembered corpse into Kyle’s refrigerator. Beyond being an incredibly gruesome moment, Alex’s death caused comic legend Gail Simone to coin the “women in refrigerators” phrase, more colloquially called fridging, which represents when women are often savagely killed off for no other reason than to further the development of a male character and shock value. It was the final straw that started a movement to petition for better treatment of women in comic books, and while that is indisputably amazing, it only could have happened because of how downright atrocious this death was.

6) The Blob Ate Wasp Like a Chicken Wing

Speaking of fridging, this horrible act of cannibalism came in Ultimatum #2. Marvel’s original Ultimate Universe is well known for being very gorey and having far more gruesome versions of everyone’s beloved characters. In this infamous storyline, Magneto decided that humanity needed to be entirely wiped away, and used his vast magnetic powers to literally shake the planet’s continents, flooding the world with tidal waves unlike anything anyone has ever seen. In the midst of the chaos, Janet Van Dyne, the Wasp, goes missing. Her husband Yellowjacket eventually finds her, but is horrified to see that villain the Blob has killed Wasp and is eating her corpse. Apparently, she tasted like chicken. It was a nauseating scene in a nauseating book, and was immediately followed up by the enraged Hank Pym biting off Blob’s head in a gratuitously bloody and ironic revenge.

5) Ma Gnucci Lost Her Limbs and Burned Alive

Ma Gnucci was the head of the Gnucci crime family, a mafia-like group that once commanded all organized crime in New York. Unfortunately for her, this drew Ma Gnucci the ire of the Punisher, who wanted to make a big splash in his return to “cleaning up” the criminal underworld. She tried to have her men kill Frank Castle in the Central Park Zoo, only for Frank to dispose of her men and toss her into the polar bear pit. Somehow, Ma Gnucci survived being eaten alive by a pack of polar bears, but lost all of her limbs and her scalp in the process. Her final fate came in Punisher volume five #12, where Frank tossed her back inside her safehouse after he lit it on fire. This horrible death had steps to it, and all of them were absolutely abysmal.

[RELATED: 10 Weakest Marvel Characters, Ranked]

4) The Flash Disintegrated Saving the Multiverse

Barry Allen was one of DC’s most popular and beloved characters and remains so to this day, which is what made his death in Crisis on Infinite Earths #8 all the more shocking. The Anti-Monitor had nearly beaten all of the multiverse’s greatest heroes and villains in his quest to destroy everything, and was going to use his Anti-Matter Cannon to eradicate every world there ever was and ever would be. Only the Flash was able to stand against this plan. He found the Anti-Matter Core and raced around it, creating a speed vortex that absorbed all of the Anti-Matter energy into himself. Unfortunately, this led to Barry’s body literally falling apart as he ran. He withered away to skin and bones, every step infusing him with more energy that literally sapped his life force. Eventually, the Flash’s body completely fell apart, and he was nothing more than dust as he ran his final steps. What makes this even worse is that the hero had no rest, as his soul was accepted into the Speed Force, where he spent the next two decades running away from the Black Flash, the speedster embodiment of death. Tragic, powerful, and one of the best deaths in all of comics, period.

3) Spider-Man Ate Mary Jane and Aunt May

For some reason, there’s more than one act of cannibalism on this list, which is just a sign that things are not okay in comic books. Marvel Zombies is exactly what it sounds like, an entire universe of all of Marvel’s heroes and villains zombified and wanting to eat every living thing they can get their hands on. One of the most tragic and gut-wrenching deaths of all came just after Spider-Man was infected, when he went home to attempt to get Mary Jane and Aunt May out of harm’s way. Unfortunately, the infection became too strong to resist, and Spider-Man was consumed by the Hunger. Spider-Man ate Mary Jane, and told Aunt May to run away because he couldn’t control himself, but there was no way for an old woman to hobble away from Spider-Man. This one still kept me up at night when I was a kid, and frankly, it still might.

2) Lori’s Corpse Smothered Her Baby

The only non-superhero entry on our list, Lori Grimes and her baby daughter Judith were both killed in The Walking Dead #48. While trying to escape from Woodbury, when the Governor commands Lily to shoot her in the back. Unfortunately, not only did this shot instantly kill Lori, but she fell on top of her infant daughter, killing Judith as well.This double death is really one of the most horrible ones in all of comics, as it’s hard to imagine a worse fate than accidentally killing your own child, even if you die in the process. Even worse, after Woodbury was overrun both of their bodies were devoured by Walkers, only adding insult to their terrible deaths.

1) Multiple Man Absorbs His Baby

The only thing worse than accidentally killing your own child and dying with them is accidentally killing your child and having to live with it. Multiple Man is a mutant with the ability to create and later absorb duplicates of himself. One night while drunk, a duplicate slept with fellow mutant Siryn, and she wound up pregnant. In X-Factor volume three #39, Siryn went into labor, and the two even decided to get married and raise the child together, whom Siryn named Sean, after her recently deceased father. Unfortunately, as Multiple Man held his child, his body absorbed young Sean until he ceased to exist, his body treating him as nothing more than another duplicate. It was a truly horrifying moment that forever scarred both Multiple Man and Siryn, and I can’t imagine something more horrible than being unable to avoid erasing your own child from existence.

So there we have seven of the most brutal and horrible ways to go that have ever been shown in a comic book. This list definitely doesn’t cover anywhere near all the weird and horrible ways that people have perished over the comic years, so let us know what other strange comic deaths you know in the comments below!

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AMC Networks is honoring a member of The Walking Dead family. On Sunday, the network aired a special dedication to Frank Hildebrand, a unit production manager and producer of Fear the Walking Dead seasons 2-8 from 2016 until 2023. Hildebrand, who also appeared on screen in a small role as stranded German tourist Hildy in the eighth and final season of Fear the Walking Dead, died Nov. 21, 2024, after a brief illness. He was 73.

“With respect and love to Frank Hildebrand, 1950-2024. From AMC and The Walking Dead Universe,” reads the tribute card that appeared before credits rolled on the May 11 episode of The Walking Dead: Dead City season 2, the first Walking Dead series to air on the network since Hildebrand’s death in November.

Scott M. Gimple, an executive producer of Fear the Walking Dead and the chief content officer who oversees AMC’s TWD Universe, previously paid tribute to Hildebrand with a photo showing the line producer posed with the SWAT van that once belonged to Althea on the set of Fear.

“We lost a great 1: FTWD’s Frank Hildebrand,” Gimple tweeted in November. “A maestro of mitigating madness & creating calm in the storm of 16 eps/yr, he knew how to work & how to play, all with class. He’s 1 of those people who sticks w/you: a notable character of character. We were lucky to know & work w/him.”

RELATED: The Walking Dead: Dead City Episode 2 Twist Ending Explained

Hildebrand previously made a cameo as a Lawton Ranger in the Fear the Walking Dead season 6 episode “Welcome to the Club” before briefly appearing as Hildy in the second half of season 8. Fear showrunners Andrew Chambliss and Ian Goldberg told AMC.com in 2023 that the minor role of Hildy — a councilmember of the German-speaking group that holed up in the Emissary Suites Hotel in Georgia during the initial outbreak — was written “specifically with Frank in mind” due to his Swiss German heritage. “He’s multi-hyphenate and multi-talented,” Chambliss said, referring to Hildebrand acting while serving as the show’s line producer.

Hildebrand is credited on nearly 100 episodes of Fear the Walking Dead, with location shoots in Mexico, Austin, Texas, and Savannah, Georgia. According to his resume, the veteran producer was fluent in English, German, French, and Italian. A member of both the DGA (Directors Guild of America) and the PGA (Producers Guild of America), Hildebrand’s first credit was as an assistant line producer on 1981’s Savage Harvest, a Mexico and Kenya-shot horror thriller about man-eating lions.

Over his 40-year career, Hildebrand also served as a co-line producer on Vice Squad (1982), as a producer/line producer on the Jim Carrey vampire comedy Once Bitten (1985), and a line producer on the Oliver Stone-executive produced Freeway (1996) and Miramax’s live-action Beowulf (1999). He also executive produced 2006’s The Hills Have Eyes with producer Wes Craven and 2007’s Into the Wild, the twice Oscar-nominated road trip drama directed by Sean Penn.

As executive in charge of production for River Road Entertainment, Hildebrand oversaw the Penn and Naomi Watts-starrer Fair Game (2010), coming-of-age biopic The Runaways (2010), and the Best Picture-nominated The Tree of Life (2011), starring Brad Pitt, Jessica Chastain, and Penn.

Per his IMDb, Hildebrand is slated to appear in Celluloid Wizards in the Video Wasteland: The Saga of Empire Pictures, a crowdfunded feature-length documentary “about the rise and fall of Empire Pictures, the most ambitious B-movie studio in the 1980s.” For Empire Studios, Hildebrand served as a line producer on the 1987 film Prison and the 1989 film Robot Jox.

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[Warning: This article contains spoilers for The Walking Dead: Dead City episode 2, “Another Shitty Lesson.”] Some mothers get flowers or greeting cards for Mother’s Day, but Maggie (Lauren Cohan) received a series of explosive surprises when she made a trip back to the island of Manhattan in Sunday’s episode of The Walking Dead: Dead City. The episode, titled “Another Shitty Lesson,” picked up where last week’s left off, with Maggie and a Negan-gunning Ginny (Mahina Napoleon) en route from the Bricks to the mainland after being conscripted into the New Babylon Federation Army.

Maggie’s son Hershel (Logan Kim) protested staying behind, but relented when she asked about the city’s hold over him and the mysterious woman in his drawings. New Babylon’s soldiers then made their way to New York to take over the Croat’s (Željko Ivanek) methane operation as the Dama (Lisa Emery) strong-armed a captive Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) into uniting and leading the city’s gangs against the imminent invasion.

RELATED: What to Remember Before You Watch The Walking Dead: Dead City Season 2

New Babylon Governor Byrd (Jasmin Walker), Colonel Armstrong (Gaius Charles), Major General Houseman (Anthony Molinari), and Major Narvaez (Dascha Polanco) didn’t heed Maggie’s warnings about crossing the bay by ferry, which proceeded to sail into methane bomb-infested waters as Negan and the Croat’s Burazi firebombed the boat transporting 50 New Babylon soldiers across the Hudson from Bayonne, New Jersey.

It turned out that the Croat was tipped off by a smoke signal from a stack of burning tires on the dock — and that a stowaway Hershel sent the signal. Maggie realized Hershel was the culprit when she watched her son apply a tourniquet to a soldier wounded in the ferry attack, recognizing the tourniquet was made from the distinctive blue cloth that was used to start the tire fire.

By episode’s end, Maggie, Hershel, Ginny, Armstrong, Narvaez, and about a dozen New Babylon soldiers were the only survivors of an ambush that blew Byrd and Houseman to smithereens alongside more than half their forces. Hershel then embraced Maggie in a tender hug, telling her, “I love you, mom.” As a somber Maggie cried, she told her son, “I love you, too.”

Why did Hershel alert the Croat about New Babylon’s plans? That can be explained by his connection to the woman in his drawings: the Dama, the power broker who had the Croat kidnap Hershel last season. The Dama did this so Maggie would bring the fugitive Negan from the mainland to Manhattan in order to lead the factions of rival gangs under Bruegel (Kim Coates) and Christos (Jake Weary). As for why the Dama has such a hold on Hershel, even after taking his toe? That remains to be revealed in episodes ahead.

New episodes of The Walking Dead: Dead City season 2 premiere Sundays on AMC and AMC+.

The post The Walking Dead: Dead City’s Hershel Twist Explained appeared first on ComicBook.com.

London’s Tower Bridge has fallen down. Sunday’s season premiere of The Walking Dead: Dead City season 2 returned to New York City, but those who tuned in on AMC caught a glimpse at the apocalypse on the other side of the pond in The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon season 3. A new teaser trailer (below) shows Daryl (Norman Reedus) and Carol (Melissa McBride) being ferried past London’s dilapidated Tower Bridge by Stephen Merchant’s as-yet-unnamed character, only to then cut to a poncho-wearing Daryl on a motorbike mid-shootout in what appears to be Spain’s Tabernas Desert.

“I was pretty young when all this started,” Daryl says in the sneak peek. “Now all we do is run and fight. It ain’t no way to live.”

RELATED: How The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon Season 2 Finale Sets up Season 3

The last we saw Daryl and Carol in 2024’s The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon – The Book of Carol, the best friends had reunited in France, and chose to stay behind together so that light aircraft pilot Ash (Manish Dayal) could fly Laurent (Louis Puech Scigliuzzi) out of Paris to safety in America.

After escaping the remnants of Madame Genet’s (Anne Charrier) Pouvoir, Daryl and Carol made their way back into Île-de-France to find passage to England in order to cross the Atlantic Ocean and get home to America.

They made their way underground through the Channel Tunnel, an undersea tunnel linking northern France to southern England, and survived duplicitous Scots Angus (Matt Swift) and Fiona (Sarah McCardie) before embarking on the 31-mile trek to their next destination.

Following a trip through London, the Madrid-based third season of Daryl Dixon largely takes place in Spain. The Walking Dead spinoff filmed on location in the Galicia, Aragón, Catalonia and Valencia regions of Spain, which provide “a new and unique backdrop for the post-apocalyptic world,” according to network AMC.

The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon season 3 “tracks Carol and Daryl as they continue their journey towards home and the ones they love,” the logline states. “As they struggle to find their way back, the path takes them farther astray, leading them through distant lands with ever-changing and unfamiliar conditions as they witness the various effects of the Walker apocalypse.”

In addition to Reedus and McBride, the new season guest stars Stephen Mercant (The Outlaws) with Spanish actors Eduardo Noriega (The Devil’s Backbone, Vantage Point), Óscar Jaenada (Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, Hernán) and Alexandra Masangkay (Días mejores, Valley of Shadows) cast as series regulars. Candela Saitta (Máxima, Último primer día) and Hugo Arbués (the Through My Window trilogy, Past Lies) have also been cast in recurring roles.

Season 3 of Daryl Dixon airs this fall on AMC and AMC+.

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It’s been 651 days since The Walking Dead last took a bite out of the Big Apple, but on Sunday night, Maggie (Lauren Cohan) and Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) return in The Walking Dead: Dead City season 2. Once again set on the Isle of the Dead that is New York City — which has been without electricity ever since the lights went out at the onset of the outbreak some 18 years earlier — the new season finds Maggie and Negan in the middle of a literal power struggle between the New Babylon Federation and the gangs of New York.

Whether you’ve forgotten a few things since we last saw Maggie and Negan in 2023, or if you need a refresher on the cliffhanger that ended the first season, here’s everything you need to remember before the new season of Dead City premieres tonight, Sunday, May 4, at 9 p.m. ET on AMC.

RELATED: The Walking Dead: Dead City Season 2 Review: Lauren Cohan & Jeffrey Dean Morgan Power Pulpy Season

Maggie and Negan went into New York City together — and Maggie left him there

Last season, Maggie was forced to track down Negan after his former Savior underling, the Croat (Željko Ivanek), kidnapped her son Hershel (Logan Kim) from their home at the Bricks, the new Hilltop colony. Negan, a wanted man pursued by New Babylon Marshal Perlie Armstrong (Gaius Charles), agreed to help Maggie get her son back from the Croat if she would take in and shelter his orphaned ward, Ginny (Mahina Napoleon). Maggie also reminded Negan that she owed him: he brutally murdered her husband, Glenn (Steven Yeun), in front of her when she was pregnant with Hershel.

After Maggie and Negan survived the mean streets of New York City together, it turned out that the Croat strongarmed Maggie into bringing the fugitive Negan from the mainland to Manhattan. Maggie gave up Negan to the Croat, who proceeded to hand him over to the Dama (Lisa Emery), a power broker who wanted Negan to unite and lead the city’s gangs to defend the island’s natural resources from New Babylon.

Power equals power

That “natural resource” is the methane gas that the Croat produces by turning the island’s abundant amount of corpses into fuel, enough to generate electricity and restore power to New York City. (After all, people are a resource.)

Whoever controls the methane operation wields the power, so the Dama mounted their defense just as New Babylon Governor Byrd (Jasmin Walker) had Armstrong inform her about the methane to replace the thousands of acres of corn fields required to produce New Babylon’s ethanol supply.

Negan: Wanted dead or alive

After doggedly pursuing Negan from the mainland to the island, Armstrong claimed he shot and killed the fugitive when questioned by his superiors. In reality, the marshal let Negan go because he saved his life (a not-quite-selfless act: “They pin your death on me, and I’m wanted twice as bad,” Negan explained).

Meanwhile, someone else switched sides to bring Negan to justice: Ginny, who learned that Negan lied to her. Ginny’s father was one of the four men Negan killed along with a New Babylon magistrate — but only because the five men attacked and robbed his wife, Annie (Medina Senghore), almost killing her. When Negan found out that Ginny followed him to New York, he falsely claimed he only took her in because she was a “debt” that he had to pay, but those harsh words were his way to get Ginny to return to the safety of the Bricks with Maggie.

Mother Dama

Season 1 ended with Maggie rescuing Hershel from the Croat and the Dama, who cut off Hershel’s toe and then gave it to Negan as a reminder to keep her new enforcer line. But once mother and son were reunited, Hershel expressed his resentment towards Maggie: “Seemed like you cared more about revenge,” he said of Maggie’s “obsession” with the man who murdered his father.

“I’m right here. But you don’t see me. It’s like my whole life you’ve been looking over my shoulder, watching for him, waiting for him,” Hershel told Maggie. “But you never see me.” Back at the Bricks, Maggie found Hershel’s drawings of a woman whose face she didn’t know: the Dama.

Tranquilitas Ordinis

“Tranquility, order, justice, the law.” That’s the motto of New Babylon, capital city of the federation of states that harshly enforces the law among its treaty-bound members. But the colonizing New Babylon Federation began to expand its powers when Governor Byrd set her sights on new territory: New York City.

The Walking Dead: Dead City season 2 premieres May 4 on AMC and AMC+, with new episodes airing Sundays.

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If the first season of The Walking Dead: Dead City was Escape From New York, then the second season is The Warriors. Set on the gritty, ultra-violent streets of a dystopian New York City, the 1979 cult classic begins with a conclave of territorial gangs — an attempt at a truce to unite and secure their turfs against a common enemy. The pulpy gang movie is, in effect, a live-action comic book, its themed tribes rooted in fantasy rather than any sort of street-gang realism.

The sophomore season of Dead City is more comic book-y and even pulpier than the first, which sent longtime enemies Maggie (Lauren Cohan) and Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) on a mission together into post-apocalyptic New York. They went there under the pretense of rescuing Maggie’s son Hershel (Logan Kim) from one of Negan’s former Savior underlings, the Croat (Željko Ivanek), but in a season-ending twist, it turned out that Maggie betrayed Negan. She handed him over to the Croat (who strong-armed Maggie into bringing Negan from the mainland to Manhattan in exchange for her son), and then Maggie returned home with Hershel, having traded Negan to the Dama (Lisa Emery), a power broker who wanted Negan to unite and lead the city’s gangs in order to protect the island’s natural resources from outsiders.

That natural resource is the Croat’s methane made from the abundant amount of zombie bodies on the island, and those outsiders are the soldiers of the New Babylon Federation: colonizers from the mainland out to take over the electricity-generating methane operation to replace their dwindling supply of ethanol and bring back the old world.

The Walking Dead: Dead City Season 2 premiere (Sunday, May 4th, at 9 p.m. ET on AMC and AMC+) picks up about a year after the Season 1 finale. The Bricks (a relocated Hilltop colony) is now a member of the New Babylon Federation of territories under the authority of Governor Byrd (Jasmin Walker), who sends Colonel Perlie Armstrong (Gaius Charles), a former marshal, and the stringent Major Narvaez (Dascha Polanco) to draft soldiers for an “exploratory mission” to take back New York. Once the capital of the world and since overrun by the dead and lawless barbarians, the New Babylonians are out to restore law and order — and power — to make Manhattan a bastion for civilization. To do so, they need to seize the methane.

Maggie is conscripted into New Babylon’s army, and agrees to return to the island without resistance if no one else from the Bricks is forced into enlisting, including her son. Ginny (Mahina Napoleon), a friend of Negan’s until she learned he killed her father, volunteers so she can get back to Manhattan and get her revenge, and Hershel ends up sneaking along to the island for his own reasons.

Meanwhile, in New York, Negan is a prisoner of the Dama. From his cell, he’s reduced to eating cockroaches and relieving himself in buckets, but he’s confident that the Dama and the Burazi pose no threat to Hershel because he’s safe with Maggie. (“She is a mama bear that would tear out your throat with her teeth right after she gutted you with her claws,” he warns the Croat.) Learning of New Babylon’s plans to invade the island, the Dama plays a different card: she forces Negan to comply by threatening his wife and son, Annie (Medina Senghore) and Joshua.

The influence of The Warriors is never felt more than when the Dama has Negan gather the New York gangs to form an alliance against the New Babylon Federation. Wearing a black leather jacket and wielding a replica of his barbed wire-covered baseball bat Lucille (newly upgraded to deliver electric jolts), Morgan comfortably slips into the old Negan, a persona he used to terrorize Rick Grimes and his group back on The Walking Dead. He’s putting on a show as instructed by the Dama, giving Morgan a chance to gleefully embrace the villain Negan who had that part of him snuffed out by nearly a decade in jail. But when he drops the facade, Morgan’s Negan is wearier, contrite, and, some might say, softer. Morgan goes from one to the other — sometimes in the same scene — without a hitch, his humanizing performance selling just how much Negan, now a father, is a changed man.

Negan and the Croat are tasked with convincing two of Uptown’s three territorial clans to join the Dama, bringing them into conflict with gang leaders Christos (Animal Kingdom‘s Jake Weary) and Bruegel (Sons of Anarchy‘s Kim Coates). The latter is a scene-chewing, Val Kilmer’s Doc Holliday type, an extravagantly dressed gambler and wild card described as a “slippery, silver-tongued eel” and played with aplomb by Coates.

Regrettably, the third clan, the Foragers, are the kind of cartoonish characters who would be at home among the goofier gangs in The Warriors. As their name implies, the holistic people led by Roksana (Pooya Mohseni) reside in Central Park, a no man’s land overrun by tall grass and wild zoo animals (who are heard, but not seen). Taking the term “urban jungle” too literally, their style of dress can only be described as Tarzanesque, making the Foragers resemble tribal humans from Planet of the Apes and too much of a departure from the otherwise punkish, Mad Max aesthetic. (Not to mention that too much of the plot takes place in the “jungle” that the urban park has become, which means eschewing the darkened concrete jungle that is New York for the same plain forest setting that has been seen on every other Walking Dead series.)

Still, the second season does make use of more iconic New York locations after the first season showed a decaying Statue of Liberty and a walker-filled Madison Square Garden. Set pieces take place on the Hudson and within the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and we see landmarks like Radio City Music Hall and St. Patrick’s Cathedral. New York doesn’t feel like a character as much as it should, and the full city blocks of walkers lurking below the rooftop ziplines or zombie bodies dropping from those same rooftops are missed this time around.

Another thing that’s missed: the main event of Maggie and Negan headlining their own show together. They spend far too little time together the second time around, and are kept apart for most of the first six episodes of the eight-episode season (AMC withheld the final two episodes from critics).

The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live and The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon – The Book of Carol also had their respective co-leads — Andrew Lincoln’s Rick and Danai Gurira’s Michonne, and Norman Reedus’ Daryl and Melissa McBride’s Carol — embark on their own individual journeys before being brought together, but by keeping Maggie and Negan in their corners except for the briefest of exchanges, Dead City loses its hook of pairing off Maggie with the since-reformed man who murdered her husband Glenn (Steven Yeun).

Glenn goes unmentioned by name (except for being referred to as Hershel’s dad), which fans are sure to be disappointed to learn after last season had Maggie relive the horror of his death in The Walking Dead‘s brains-bashing Season 7 premiere. (To be fair, Dead City takes place some 17 years later.) This time around, Maggie shares most of her screen time with Hershel, who still harbors anger and resentment towards his mother for what he calls an “obsession” with Negan. I don’t quite buy that Maggie’s hatred for Negan overshadows her love for Hershel, although that’s how he feels — something that is repeatedly stated in the few times Maggie tries to get her resentful and distant son to open up and close what seems to be a chasm between them. Complicating matters is Hershel’s complex attitude toward the Dama, and Maggie’s complex relationship with Negan: namely her feelings of guilt for handing him over to the Dama, and how, understandably, her holding onto this vendetta has affected and poisoned her relationship with her son. Cohan gets to play a different side of Maggie, at times the ferocious “mama bear” and at other times a mom wracked with guilt and wrestling with this schism that brings out shocking sides of her son.

Dead City is at its best when Cohan and Morgan are unpacking the grief and guilt that has intertwined Maggie and Negan’s stories together to the point that the series perks up any time they’re sharing the same space — whether that’s as frenemies or foes. Like methane, that kind of electricity can power an entire city.

Rating: 3 out of 5

The Walking Dead: Dead City Season 2 premieres Sunday, May 4th, at 9 p.m. ET on AMC and AMC+.

The post The Walking Dead: Dead City Season 2 Review: Lauren Cohan & Jeffrey Dean Morgan Power Pulpy Season appeared first on ComicBook.com.

Robert Kirkman has described The Walking Dead as the zombie movie that never ends. “I’ve always loved zombie movies but I hated how they ended, and so I wanted to do the zombie movie that never ends,” the creator explained in 2016. “I think watching people survive over a long period of time, finding food, making relationships, trying to maintain those relationships in the face of a zombie apocalypse would be something that would be fun to explore as a storyteller for many, many, many years.”

But after 16 years and 193 issues, Kirkman’s long-running Image comic series concluded in 2019. The twist: no one saw the ending coming. Only upon reaching the final page of The Walking Dead #193 did readers learn that the story being told since 2003 was over.

Kirkman told readers at the time that the sudden ending, which came without warning or fanfare, was because The Walking Dead “has always been built on surprise,” whether that was a sudden death that happened at the last minute or a page-turning shocker that left jaws agape.

AMC’s live-action adaptation of Kirkman’s zombie comic concluded not long after, ending its 11-season, 177-episode run in 2022 and transitioning to spinoffs like Dead City, Daryl Dixon, and The Ones Who Live. But like any good zombie movie, the original series had a horde of plot twists and shockers, some adapted from the comic book and others that caught even comic readers off guard. We’ve ranked some of those twists below (beware of spoilers).

10. Jadis and the Scavengers Betray Alexandria

After a half season of lead up to all-out war against Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) and the Saviors, it seemed Alexandria found allies in their fight: Jadis (Pollyanna McIntosh) and the junkyard dwelling Scavengers.

The group spent most of season 7 forming alliances with other subjugated communities like the Kingdom and Oceanside, and convinced the Scavengers to rebel against Negan in exchange for guns. But when the Saviors arrived at Alexandria in the season 7 finale, “The First Day of the Rest of Your Life,” Jadis and the Scavengers double-crossed the group as they sided with Negan, leading to all-out war between the Saviors and Scavengers against the allied Alexandria, the Hilltop, and the Kingdom.

9. Dante Is a Whisperer

In another betrayal, the season 10 episode “Open Your Eyes” revealed that Dante (Juan Javier Cardenas) — a character who was once Maggie’s love interest in the comic books — was a Whisperer spy sent to infiltrate and sabotage Alexandria.

Not only had Dante befriended Alexandria doctor Siddiq (Avi Nash), but he was one of the skin-wearing Whisperers who had left Siddiq traumatized after he was forced to watch the beheadings carried out by Samantha Morton’s Alpha (more on that below). Once found out, Dante strangled Siddiq to death.

8. Rick’s Secret

It was one of the most asked questions of The Walking Dead‘s early seasons: What did Jenner whisper to Rick? When Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln) led his group of survivors to the CDC in Atlanta, virologist Dr. Edwin Jenner (Noah Emmerich) whispered something in Rick’s ear in the “TS-19” season 1 finale. It would be over a year and another 13 episodes before viewers learned the secret Rick was keeping.

“We’re all infected,” Rick told the others after Randall (Michael Zegen) was found to have turned without being bit. “At the CDC, Jenner told me. Whatever it is, we all carry it.” Rick confirmed this when he was forced to kill Shane (Jon Bernthal), who then reanimated after being stabbed to death.

7. Carol Killed Karen and David

The comic revealed that a serial killer was among the inmates of the prison seized by Rick’s group, a plot thread that almost made it into the show. Instead, the season 4 episode “Infected” ended with a shocking discovery: Tyreese (Chad Coleman) found his girlfriend Karen (Melissa Ponzio) and friend David’s (Brandon Carroll) charred corpses.

Karen and David were quarantined with the flu virus that had begin to spread throughout the prison, so Carol (Melissa McBride) took it upon herself to prevent further infection by killing Karen and David. Carol was meek and unassuming, making it that more surprising that she could do something so cold blooded — even if she had started to come into her own after the events of season 2 (more on that below).

6. Terminus Cannibals

After the Governor’s (David Morrissey) assault left the prison in ruins in the midseason 4 finale “Too Far Gone,” the back half of season 4 saw the survivors separated. All roads led to Terminus, which had broadcast a message: “Sanctuary for all. Community for all. Those who arrive survive.”

When the groups eventually converged at Terminus, Rick, Carl (Chandler Riggs), Michonne (Danai Gurira), and Daryl (Norman Reedus) arrived to find the others had been rounded up like cattle into a boxcar. It was then revealed that Gareth’s (Andrew J. West) Termites were cannibals who would lure people to Terminus for slaughter. The season 5 episode “No Sanctuary” was as shockingly violent as it was ruthless, especially when Carol launched a one-woman attack on Terminus to save her friends before they could be slaughtered and eaten.

5. Eugene’s Lie

Later in season 5, the displaced group had a new direction when the cowardly Eugene (Josh McDermitt) claimed to have a cure for the walker apocalypse. Abraham (Michael Cudlitz) and Rosita (Christian Serratos) were escorting Eugene to Washington, D.C., on a mission to save humanity, with Maggie (Lauren Cohan) and Glenn (Steven Yeun) eventually joining them alongside Tara (Alanna Masterson).

But while en route to D.C. in the season 5 episode “Self Help,” Eugene confessed: “I’m not a scientist. I lied. I don’t know how to stop it.” Eugene believed that Washington was the most probable place for survival, so Eugene duped people stronger and more capable than him to shepherd him to safety. Still, with the group out of options, they headed to D.C. and eventually ended up at the Alexandria community in Virginia.

4. The Pikes

Lines were crossed during the Whisperer War. “The Calm Before,” the penultimate episode of season 9, ended with Daryl, Carol, Michonne, Siddiq, and Yukio (Eleanor Matsuura) at Alpha’s border marking Whisperer territory. Meanwhile, back at the Kingdom’s Fair of New Beginnings, dread set in as people went missing.

At the border, the group found the decapitated heads of 10 victims gruesomely displayed on pikes, including Tara, Enid (Katelyn Nacon), and, most shockingly, Carol’s adopted son Henry (Matt Lintz).

3. Eeny Meeny Miny More

The season 6 finale, “Last Day on Earth,” ended with Rick captured by Negan’s Saviors. In a season-ending cliffhanger, Negan introduced himself and played a game of eeny, meeny, miny, moe to pick the victim whose head he would bash in with his barbed wire-wrapped baseball bat, Lucille.

The lineup: Rick, Carl, Michonne, Daryl, Maggie, Glenn, Rosita, Abraham, Eugene, Sasha (Sonequa Martin-Green), and Aaron (Ross Marquand). Although the episode left off with a death by baseball bat, Negan’s victim wasn’t revealed until “The Day Will Come When You Won’t Be” season 7 premiere. Negan bludgeoned Abraham to death, and just when Glenn seemed to be spared his comic book fate from The Walking Dead issue #100, Negan took a second victim when he pulverized Glenn’s head into bloody mush.

2. Sophia In the Barn

In the season 2 opener, “What Lies Ahead,” Carol’s daughter Sophia (Madison Lintz) ran away from a highway walker horde and went missing. The group posted up at the Greene family farm and spent the first half of season 2 searching for Sophia, who would finally be found in the “Pretty Much Dead” midseason finale.

Despite holding out hope that the girl was alive, the group was shocked when a zombified Sophia — who had died and turned from a walker’s bite — shambled out of the barn with the dozens of other walkers wrangled up by Otis (Pruitt Taylor Vince) at a time that Hershel (Scott Wilson) believed they could be cured. Rick then stepped forth and shot Sophia in the head to put her down.

1. Carl’s Death

In the season 8 episode “How It’s Gotta Be,” Carl revealed to Rick and Michonne that he was bitten by a walker episodes earlier (in “The King, the Widow, and Rick”) while saving Siddiq.

It was the biggest deviation from the comic book, where Carl lived well into a 25-year time jump and survived the series. Carl’s death in season 8’s “Honor” midseason premiere is a twist that shocked not just TV viewers, but comic book readers, who believed Carl was as “safe” as someone could be in the twist-filled world of The Walking Dead.

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Zombies may shamble slowly, but the questions they leave behind move at lightning speed. Despite wrapping up its main storyline after eleven blood-soaked seasons, The Walking Dead universe continues expanding through multiple spinoffs that follow beloved characters across different corners of the post-apocalyptic landscape. From Daryl’s adventures in France on The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon to Rick and Michonne’s reunion in The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live, these extensions of the franchise keep fans hooked while introducing fresh landscapes, characters, and threats. Yet, for all the new ground covered, numerous head-scratching mysteries from the original series remain buried deeper than a walker in quicksand.

The sprawling zombie saga has spawned countless theories among its dedicated fanbase, with viewers dissecting every episode for clues about the world’s most pressing questions. As the franchise balances nostalgia for long-standing characters with exciting new directions, certain fundamental puzzles stay frustratingly unsolved. Whether these mysteries will eventually find resolution in future spinoffs or remain permanently in the dark remains unknown, much like the fate of humanity itself in this walker-infested world. Here are the seven most significant Walking Dead mysteries that continue to lurk in the shadows, haunting fans long after the main series concluded.

What Happened to Other International Communities?

While most of The Walking Dead‘s action unfolds across America’s post-apocalyptic landscape, Daryl Dixon’s European adventures opened fans’ eyes to how differently other regions might experience the zombie outbreak. France’s walker variants exhibited disturbing new capabilities, suggesting the virus manifests uniquely worldwide.

This global perspective presents enticing storytelling possibilities that remain largely unexplored. Have certain nations fared better than others based on geography, population density, or cultural approaches to crisis? Could isolated communities on islands or in remote mountain regions have maintained functioning societies? The appearance of different walker types in France hints at potentially fascinating variations elsewhere—perhaps faster zombies in some regions, completely immobile ones in others, or even communities that found effective containment methods.

The international mystery grows more compelling when considering how pre-apocalypse relationships between countries might have evolved. Did any governments survive long enough to establish communication networks? Did military powers attempt coordinated responses? With the Commonwealth and Civic Republic Military demonstrating that large-scale organizations survived in America, fans wonder what equivalent powers might exist across oceans, waiting to be discovered.

Will Rick and Daryl Ever Reunite?

The brotherhood between Rick Grimes and Daryl Dixon formed the emotional foundation of The Walking Dead’s early seasons. Their separation following Rick’s helicopter departure in Season 9 created one of the franchise’s most anticipated potential reunions—a moment fans have waited years to witness.

While The Ones Who Live finally brought Rick back to the screen and reunited him with Michonne, his reunion with Daryl—his most trusted lieutenant—remains unfulfilled. Norman Reedus has publicly expressed interest in making this reunion happen, though coordinating between separate spinoffs presents logistical challenges. The emotional weight of such a meeting would be tremendous, especially considering Daryl never stopped searching for Rick and continues wearing his gun as a reminder of their bond.

With Daryl currently traversing France and England while Rick has returned to America, the geographic distance between them seems insurmountable. However, given the franchise’s love for dramatic reunions and the central importance of this relationship, many believe the showrunners must eventually bring these blood brothers back together, possibly in a future crossover event that could serve as a capstone for both characters’ journeys.

How Many Years Have Passed Since the Original Outbreak?

The timeline across The Walking Dead franchise has become increasingly muddled, especially with various spinoffs operating at different points in the apocalypse. While Fear The Walking Dead began showing the early outbreak days, spinoffs like The Walking Dead: Dead City and Daryl Dixon occur well after the main series’ conclusion.

This chronological confusion leaves viewers struggling to understand how much time has passed since the world fell. Has a decade gone by? Fifteen years? The answer affects our understanding of character development, environmental changes, and technological degradation. Without a clear timeline, it’s difficult to appreciate how communities have evolved or how nature has reclaimed urban areas.

The temporal question becomes particularly relevant when considering how children like Judith and Hershel Jr. have grown up knowing only this dangerous world. Their perspectives on society would differ dramatically depending on whether they’ve lived through five years of apocalypse versus fifteen. Similarly, the decay rate of infrastructure and supplies—from collapsing buildings to spoiled gasoline—should reflect an accurate passage of time to maintain the world’s internal logic.

[RELATED – 10 Best Episodes of The Walking Dead]

Can The CRM Actually Be Defeated?

The Civic Republic Military emerged as the most formidable human antagonist in The Walking Dead universe, first introduced in the main series and further explored in World Beyond and The Ones Who Live. This militaristic organization possesses resources, technology, and manpower far exceeding any community previously seen.

The question of whether the CRM can be—or should be—defeated raises fascinating possibilities for future storytelling. While Rick and Michonne confronted aspects of the organization in The Ones Who Live, the CRM largely remains intact. As a potential overarching villain for the entire franchise, the CRM’s ultimate fate could become a unifying thread across multiple spinoffs.

What makes this mystery particularly compelling is the CRM’s moral ambiguity. Unlike purely malevolent antagonists like the Governor or Negan, the CRM genuinely believes its authoritarian methods are necessary for humanity’s survival. Their advanced resources might hold the keys to understanding or addressing the walker virus itself, making their complete destruction potentially catastrophic for humanity’s future. This ethical complexity elevates the CRM mystery beyond simple questions of victory or defeat.

What’s Laurent’s True Connection to Walkers?

Daryl Dixon introduced Laurent, a young boy with an apparent special connection to walkers that sometimes causes them to respond differently to him than to other humans. Throughout the first season, this mysterious bond raised significant questions about the nature of the walker virus and its evolution.

Is Laurent somehow immune? Does he represent a potential key to understanding or even curing the virus? As Daryl Dixon continues with its third season, exploring Laurent’s true nature could provide new insights into the fundamental mechanics of the franchise’s central threat. However, with Laurent now sent to America while Daryl and Carol venture through England, this storyline appears temporarily shelved.

Laurent’s connection to walkers represents one of the most intriguing additions to the franchise’s mythology in years. If he truly possesses unique biological characteristics, he could become central to the entire Walking Dead universe’s future. Yet with his story currently paused, fans must wait to discover whether his abilities represent a genuine evolutionary development or merely coincidental behavior from the undead.

Will There Ever Be a Cure for the Walker Virus?

The possibility of a cure has been raised throughout the franchise, from Eugene’s initial false claims to the scientific research conducted by the CRM and other groups. World Beyond reintroduced this concept through its focus on research facilities working on the virus, while more recent developments with Laurent suggest potential immunological breakthroughs.

A cure would fundamentally transform The Walking Dead’s world, potentially allowing for the restoration of society as it existed before the outbreak. This raises narrative questions about whether the franchise would embrace such a dramatic shift or continue focusing on survival in a world where the dead walk. The development of a cure would create new conflicts regarding who deserves access and how it would be distributed in a fractured world.

The cure question ultimately represents the most optimistic thread in an otherwise bleak universe. While early seasons focused purely on survival, later storylines increasingly suggest humanity might someday overcome the apocalypse rather than merely endure it. Whether this hope materializes or proves, another cruel disappointment remains one of the franchise’s most significant unresolved mysteries.

How Did the Virus Actually Begin?

The origin of the walker virus remains the biggest mystery in The Walking Dead universe. World Beyond provided some hints through its post-credits scene featuring a French research facility but stopped short of confirming the initial cause. This scene suggested French scientists may have been responsible for creating or accelerating variants of the walker virus.

Understanding how the apocalypse began would provide critical context for the entire franchise. Was it a natural mutation, a bioweapon, or something entirely different? The show has teased connections to research facilities and government organizations like the CRM but has yet to provide definitive answers. For a series that has explored nearly every aspect of post-apocalyptic survival, this foundational question remains surprisingly unresolved.

The origin mystery carries philosophical weight beyond mere curiosity. If the virus resulted from human experimentation, it frames the apocalypse as a cautionary tale about scientific overreach. If it emerged naturally, it suggests humanity’s inherent fragility against nature’s forces. The answer would fundamentally shape how viewers interpret the show’s themes about civilization, human nature, and our capacity for both destruction and resilience in the face of catastrophe—making it the Walking Dead’s most profound unanswered question.

What unanswered The Walking Dead questions do you still have? Let us know in the comments below!

The post 7 The Walking Dead Mysteries That Are Still Unanswered appeared first on ComicBook.com.

Considered one of TV’s best villains (and worst, considering all his deeds), as soon as he appeared on The Walking Dead, Negan was the kind of character who made it clear what he was there for. To this day, he’s remembered as a powerful presence, even though, after the series ended, he embarked on a redemption arc alongside Maggie in the spinoff The Walking Dead: Dead City. And yes, Jeffrey Dean Morgan turned out to be the perfect choice. It’s difficult to think of Negan without immediately picturing him, however, he had a strong competitor, and it was this close to being a different actor carrying the legacy of one of The Walking Dead‘s most iconic antagonists.

Morgan wasn’t exactly the go-to choice from the start. In fact, the actor who almost got the role had already made a name for himself back in 1996 – and once you know who it is, it makes a lot of sense.

Matthew Lillard is a fan-favorite actor, known for roles like the fun-loving Shaggy in the live-action Scooby-Doo films, the eerie Steve Raglan/William Afton in Five Nights at Freddy’s, and, of course, the unhinged killer Stu Macher in Scream. There’s no official confirmation that his performance as one of the Ghostfaces is what caught The Walking Dead creator Robert Kirkman’s and the production’s attention, but it wouldn’t be surprising. After all, both Negan and Stu share a menacing energy. So, how did this almost happen – and why did the role ultimately go to Morgan?

When casting began for Season 7, the production team needed someone who could fully embody the intensity of Negan – a character who blends brutality, charisma, and a warped sense of morality. That’s when Lillard’s name entered the conversation, alongside other contenders like Timothy Olyphant, Garret Dillahunt, and Matt Dillon. He auditioned, delivering a performance that showcased impressive range – shifting from the playful tone he’s known for to the darker and more menacing energy required for Negan.

[RELATED: The Walking Dead: Dead City Season 2 Trailer Shocks With Old Negan, New Villains]

During a Scream panel at Atlanta’s Walker Stalker Con in 2022, he spoke more about the experience.

“So I got a call. They said they want you to audition for The Walking Dead. It’s a big part. I’m like, ‘Okay, cool.’ I didn’t watch the show, sorry. So I went in to audition and they loved it. They were like, ‘Wow, they really loved it, you’re in the running for this part.’ I’m like, ‘Oh, that’s great. It usually means it’s going to somebody else,'” Lillard shared. But even though he wasn’t very confident about the outcome, he was called back for a second round – this time to do a more dramatically staged reading. That’s when he was told the role had come down to him and one other actor – Morgan.

According to the actor, his performance genuinely surprised the casting team. However, after further discussions and evaluation, the producers ultimately offered the part to Morgan, who brought a fiercer energy, a distinct presence, and a portrayal that captured all the complexity of Negan’s moral ambiguity. If audiences were able to be both captivated by and afraid of the villain, it was largely thanks to the nuance Morgan brought to the role. Still, imagining Lillard in that position raises curiosity – it could’ve marked a major turning point in his career.

Interestingly, The Walking Dead‘s creator seemed genuinely enthusiastic about the idea of Shaggy’s actor taking on the role. At the same event, Lillard shared that Kirkman had personally spoken to him – and later admitted that when he saw Morgan’s face on the show’s merchandise, he felt it should’ve been Lillard’s. Kirkman was clearly rooting for him, but in the end, it just wasn’t enough.

Even so, not landing the role didn’t hold Lillard back. His career has continued to flourish in a variety of genres, and that versatility is a big reason why audiences still admire him so much. It’s fascinating to know he was seriously considered for such a complex character, but at the same time, maybe it wasn’t such a bad thing to avoid the downsides of playing someone like Negan. Morgan himself has shared that even years after the infamous episode where a beloved character was killed by Lucille, he still faces backlash from fans upset with what his character did. Portraying someone as deeply villainous as Negan can be unforgettable – but it definitely comes at a cost.

The Walking Dead is available to stream on Netflix.

The post The Walking Dead’s Negan Was Almost Played by a Fan-Favorite Scooby-Doo Star appeared first on ComicBook.com.

Fortnite has announced a major collaboration with The Walking Dead, and it will bring one of the biggest characters in the franchise to the game. Following previous additions like Rick Grimes, it was revealed this morning that Negan will be added on April 4th. The announcement was part of a much bigger promotion connected to the universe of The Walking Dead. Starting today, players will be able to create their own islands in Fortnite Creative using content and assets based on the brand. Players will be able to find special “The Walking Dead Universe” templates, and use them to build unique experiences.

The templates will give players various options to choose from, including Walker NPCs. As in the comic and AMC series, Walkers will be slow and shambling, but particularly dangerous in hordes. Players that find themselves bitten by a Walker will slowly lose health until their demise. Starting on April 8th, there will be an option to add Negan as an NPC, as well. Players can also fill their creations with other iconic elements from The Walking Dead, including weapons like Negan’s bat Lucille. The prison is one of the most iconic locations from The Walking Dead, and it’s also being represented in a big way through Fortnite Creative options. There will even be a shader tool that gives creations a black and white color to match the comic series! A trailer for the collaboration can be found below.

While Fortnite players can start building islands today using content from The Walking Dead, these options cannot be published in the creator portal until May 16th. That should give players some nice lead time to come up with unique concepts. In a press release, The Walking Dead creator Robert Kirkman talked about the collaboration with Epic Games, while sharing his excitement about seeing what players come up with through Fortnite Creative.

“This collaboration with Fortnite is an incredible opportunity to expand The Walking Dead in ways we’ve never imagined. Whether it’s Lucille smashing through hordes or the eerie presence of Walkers, I can’t wait to see where the Fortnite community’s creativity takes us,” said Kirkman.

RELATED: Fortnite Leak Reveals Next Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Skins

Once players are able to start sharing their creations, it’s going to be interesting to see what experiences they come up with. The Walking Dead IP seems like a really interesting option for Fortnite Creative, and it looks like Epic Games has come up with several tools that make sense for the brand. Of course, those that prefer Walking Dead skins in the traditional Fortnite game will soon have one of the franchise’s most iconic characters to choose from. There are still some pretty notable character skins that have yet to appear, so hopefully Negan’s arrival means that we’ll see even more in the future.

Are you looking forward to any of this content in Fortnite? What skins based on The Walking Dead do you still want to see? Share your thoughts with me directly on Bluesky at @Marcdachamp, or on Instagram at @Dachampgaming!

The post Fortnite Is Adding Negan from The Walking Dead appeared first on ComicBook.com.

It’s pretty tough for a TV show to make major waves in the pop culture zeitgeist. But back in 2010, some series really showed what they were made of, breaking records and getting audiences to wait every week for a new episode. The Walking Dead definitely made that list, pulling in a massive 5.3 million viewers in its pilot episode alone. But as time went on, things changed, with lots of ups and downs. The Walking Dead Season 2 is a perfect example of this, with a pretty messy story, but luckily it managed to turn things around just in time. The big question is: What happened?

The second batch of episodes of The Walking Dead is still remembered by many as one of the slowest in the series. The lethargic pace, the repetition of scenes, and the lack of big events left fans frustrated (even though the last few episodes got better in some ways). What a lot of The Walking Dead fans may not know is that all these issues were just a reflection of a much bigger problem behind the scenes – from creative clashes to messed-up behavior, everything was in chaos.

The Walking Dead‘s Behind-the-Scenes Problems

When The Walking Dead started, acclaimed filmmaker Frank Darabont was in charge of production. The showrunner was also a co-creator of the series, playing a huge role in its early success. Thanks to him, the episodes had an ambitious cinematic style that set the dark and realistic tone for a plot centered around a post-apocalyptic world. However, when season 2 kicked off, Darabont was unexpectedly fired by AMC. The reason? Clashes between his creative vision and the network’s demands, budget cuts, and, as later revealed in court documents (after the situation led to a lawsuit), his alleged abusive behavior behind the scenes.

As Darabont sued AMC, emails were leaked that contradicted his story, showing that he regularly insulted and verbally attacked members of his team. He also expressed frustration over things happening on set. “F—k you all for giving me chest pains because of the staggering f—ing incompetence, blindness to the important beats, and the beyond-arrogant lack of regard for what is written being exhibited on set every day,” Darabont said, as reported by The Hollywood Reporter in 2017. “I deserve better than a heart attack because people are too stupid to read a script and understand the words. Does anybody disagree with me? Then join the C-cam operator and go find another job that doesn’t involve deliberately f—ing up my show scene by scene.”

The showrunner claimed that he was unfairly removed from the series and excluded from profits. The heart of the problem was accusations of creative accounting (a practice in which studios manipulate figures to make it appear that a production is less profitable than it is to avoid paying profit-sharing). The calculation model was later revised, but Darabont continued his fight for fair compensation.

[RELATED: How to Watch All The Walking Dead Shows in Order in 2025]

However, surprisingly, not all of his actions were entirely unfounded. After the success of Season 1, AMC decided to cut The Walking Dead‘s budget by 25% for the new episodes despite ordering a second season with 16 episodes (up from just six). This naturally led to production disagreements. There were fewer locations, fewer action scenes, and fewer zombies on screen. That’s why most of The Walking Dead Season 2 takes place on Hershel’s farm, with fewer sequences full of tension and danger – the very elements that had garnered the audience’s positive feedback. Financial constraints also affected the special effects.

But the plot wasn’t the only issue. There was a huge problem in the writer’s room. Reports indicated that Darabont was already planning to fire the entire writing staff and work only with freelancers. The result? More instability behind the scenes. He eventually left the series, but the challenges didn’t end. The writing team had to be quickly replaced, and AMC had to reorganize the staff in a hurry with Glen Mazzara assuming showrunner duties for Seasons 2 and 3.

With the pressure to launch Season 2, The Walking Dead‘s story moved at a slower pace than before, with long sequences of characters dealing with their moral dilemmas. The plot didn’t progress because there was no one left to drive and maintain the intense pace of Season 1. Plus, AMC required that all scripts be approved before filming began. This caused strong viewer criticism, and to this day, the season is considered one of the worst and most disorganized of the series. For a show whose main draw was the zombie apocalypse, this shift didn’t sit well with the audience. Fans expected more threats and confrontations, but everything became too monotonous.

Season 2 Reception Was Really Negative

In Season 2 of The Walking Dead, after the destruction of the Center for Disease Control, Rick and his group set out to find a new refuge and come across the isolated farm of the Greene family. As they try to adapt to their new life, they face both internal and external challenges, including leadership conflicts between Rick and Shane, as well as the search for Carol’s daughter, Sophia. Eventually, the girl is turned into a zombie and discovered in the farm’s barn. The story culminates with the place being overrun by a horde of the undead, forcing the group to flee.

The plot was basically split into a slower section and a faster one (though that only happened at the very end). Despite the script undergoing constant changes in an attempt to match the pace and balance of Season 1, some argue that the creativity in the second half of the season wasn’t as strong. As a result, the reception was affected, with many viewers feeling the plot had stalled and interest gradually waned. Though the series still maintained strong ratings, it was essentially a wake-up call.

Fortunately, The Walking Dead managed to bounce back in Season 3, reintroducing the tension and action that originally won over the audience. However, the turbulence of Season 2 will always be remembered as one of the most troubled times for the series – even though the rhythm returned with ups and downs starting from Season 7.

The Walking Dead is available to stream on Netflix.

The post There’s a Reason The Walking Dead Season 2 Is So Messy appeared first on ComicBook.com.

The city that never sleeps is coming back to life. In the new trailer for The Walking Dead: Dead City season 2, which AMC released Thursday, Jeffrey Dean Morgan’s Negan holds court in a display of literal power. The Croat’s (Željko Ivanek) Burazi have restored power to the long-dormant and darkened island of Manhattan, using its most abundant natural resource — the dead — to generate electricity. (People are a resource, after all.)

“You see, power equals power,” Negan tells the gangs of New York gathered in a brightly-lit room. “So if you ain’t with us, I guess you’re in for a bit of a shock.” That shock felt by the electrified barbed wire wrapped around Negan’s beloved baseball bat, Lucille, is less shocking than what follows: Maggie (Lauren Cohan) holding the weapon that was used to bludgeon her husband Glenn to death.

Watch the just-released trailer below.

RELATED: How to Watch All The Walking Dead Shows in Order

Elsewhere in the trailer, Maggie has her own weapon of choice: a bladed arm gauntlet she’s seen wielding to fend off attacks from the dead, the living, and a very alive bear.

After Negan and Maggie made the trek into Manhattan to rescue her son, Hershel (Logan Kim), after he was kidnapped by the Croat, Maggie gets New Babylon Federation Marshal Perlie Armstrong (Gaius Charles) to help her mount another rescue mission: saving Negan from the clutches of the mysterious power dealer Dama (Lisa Emery).

“We know what it means to go back there,” Maggie says of the rescue mission joined by Hershel. The Dama used Hershel to get to Negan and then got Negan to do her bidding by threatening Maggie’s son, who has his own motives for returning to the city.

RELATED: The Walking Dead: Dead City Season 1 Ending, Explained

Meanwhile, a new player, rival gang leader Bruegel (Sons of Anarchy‘s Kim Coates), can be seen presiding over a gathering of the gangs in a Last Supper-style shot as he dares “any mainlander to set foot on this island.” Challenge accepted.

Here’s the official description: “In the growing war for control of New York City, Maggie and Negan find themselves trapped on opposite sides. As their paths intertwine, they come to see that the way out for both is more complicated and harrowing than they ever imagined.”

The Walking Dead: Dead City season 2 — which stars Lauren Cohan and Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Gaius Charles, Željko Ivanek, Mahina Anne Marie Napoleon, Lisa Emery, Logan
Kim, Dascha Polanco and Kim Coates — premieres Sunday, May 4 at 9:00 pm ET on AMC and AMC+.

The post The Walking Dead: Dead City Season 2 Trailer Shocks With Old Negan, New Villains appeared first on ComicBook.com.

When I was a little kid, I used to be extremely particular about water. Whether it was my bathwater or the drinking water that mom poured into my favorite Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle cup, it always needed to be just right. As I got older, I became less tyrannical about the water around me, but I still have my preferences. But it’s a big reason as to why this one specific walker from The Walking Dead still gives me nightmares. From the set up, you can probably already guess which walker I’m talking about. Out of the thousands of walkers featured across over 170 episodes in The Walking Dead, the bloated well walker from “Cherokee Rose” is the one that has stuck with me after all of these years.

Before I dive into the reasons why this disgusting walker has been forever burned into my mind, I should mention that The Walking Dead has featured some pretty iconic creature designs throughout its 11-season run. Straight out of the gate, we were introduced to Summer (Addy Miller), the little walker girl clutching her teddy bear. With her jaw nearly completely ripped off, viewers quickly got a sense of the kind of show that they were about to watch. After that, we’ve seen impactful nightmare-inducing walkers such as the lone walker that Shane sees in “Better Angels,” Michonne’s (Danai Gurira) jawless, armless walker companions, and the gluttonous walker that snacked on Lori (Sarah Wayne Callies) in “Say the Word.” But to me, it’s still the bloated walker that takes the crown.

Using Up One of Glenn’s Nine Lives

As Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln) and the rest of his ragtag group of survivors settled in on the Greene Family Farm, it became clear that many of the characters started to become a little too comfortable with the new reality that they found themselves in. One of those characters was Glenn (Steven Yeun), who was volunteered to fix a very serious problem that jeopardized the farm. A walker had somehow made its way on the farm and managed to tumble down into a well on the property.

With safety concerns over the cleanliness of the water inside the well, the group decides that the best course of action is to pull the walker out of the well without killing it first. At this point in the story, I was already checked out. There no way you could convince me that the water in that well wasn’t already contaminated by that disgusting bloated walker. I would gladly take the dehydration over a cool and refreshing glass of walker-ade, but I digress. So instead of shooting the walker and then fishing it out, the group ties up Glenn and lowers him down to tie up the walker.

In classic The Walking Dead fashion, things don’t go according to plan and Glenn comes dangerously close to becoming a walker himself. But after a brief struggle, he wraps the rope around the walker before he is lifted to safety. Despite Glenn accomplishing his mission, the plan to lift the bloated well walker out hits a gory and stomach-turning snag when the walker is ripped in half by the rope. Its blood and guts then spill into the water, rendering the entire supply useless. Just perfect. Not to mention that this stunt cost Glenn one of his nine lives that he could have used during an encounter with Negan.

[RELATED: How to Watch All The Walking Dead Shows in Order in 2025]

Cutting Out the Bloat

Again, even before the bloated well walker was spliced in half, that well water was beyond saving. Nobody on that farm could determine when that walker fell inside that well. Just looking at that nightmare inducing walker, that thing could have been in there for weeks or even months, just steeping in that water like a soggy and puss-filled tea bag. At that point, was it even worth the risk? Even if their original plan worked and they fished that walker out of the well without spilling a drop of blood, there is no telling which bodily fluids oozed into the water. I don’t care how many times you might boil the water, there’s no killing that level of disgusting.

Maybe I’m just being unreasonable. In The Walking Dead universe, sometimes you just have to make sacrifices and go well beyond your comfort zone in order to survive. If that means possibly getting micro-dosed with a virus that can turn you into a walker, then so be it. But then again … no. There is no way in a million years I would have ever taken that chance. You can collect rainwater, you can trap condensation, you can scavenge nearby areas for bottles of water. Any of those options are better than scooping a moldy potato walker out of a well and then drinking that well water like nothing happened. Just thinking about it gives me nightmares.

Which walker do you think is the most nightmare inducing on The Walking Dead?

The post I Still Have Nightmares About This Walker From The Walking Dead appeared first on ComicBook.com.

Invincible Season 3 is now getting ready for its grand finale, and the star behind its newest debut Conquest has opened up about the mini The Walking Dead reunion that’s popped up in the animated series. Invincible’s third season has really put Mark Grayson through all kinds of hell as following his fight with Angstrom Levy at the end of the second season, he’s only been dealing with even more troubles than before. Now as the third season comes to an end, Mark now has one final opponent that’s standing in his way that could ruin everything he’s fought for.

Invincible Season 3 Episode 7 took things to its limits as Angstrom Levy summoned a group of Marks from across the multiverse to destroy the Earth and ruin Mark’s image with the public, and Mark did everything he could to take down his most ruthless foe. But as the Earth tries to recover from all the devastation that’s sparked as a result, a deadly new Viltrumite named Conquest has made his way to the planet and ready to take it over. Voiced by Jeffrey Dean Morgan, the Walking Dead star addressed his mini reunion with Steven Yeun in the animated series.

The Walking Dead’s Negan Joins Invincible as Conquest

When it came to joining Invincible as Conquest, series creator Robert Kirkman noted in a recent interview with Entertainment Weekly how he’s been thinking of Jeffrey Dean Morgan as the voice of the Viltrumite, “probably since the beginning of the show’s existence….” Explaining that “Conquest needs a lot of nuance. There’s a tremendous amount of personality there, even though he is this giant, powerful brute that’s just wrecking things. And I knew Jeffrey could bring that.” When it comes to Morgan himself, the star noted how physically exhausting it is.

“I don’t know what it is about being in a [recording] booth and trying to destroy the world,” Morgan stated, “but it’s really physically hard.” As for his mini-reunion with fellow Walking Dead star Yeun, “I was just thrilled to get to be a part of it and give Steven his chance at redemption,” Morgan joked. But at the same time, he’s very aware of how differently of a picture he wants to paint for Conquest as opposed to his famous portrayal of The Walking Dead’s Negan, “I was trying to be aware of just voice inflection. It’s so easy for me to get into Negan mode after this many years.”

RELATED: Invincible Creator Shares Season 4 Update Ahead of Season 3 Finale

What’s Next for Conquest?

But as Invincible Season 3 comes to an end, Kirkman teases just how bad things have gotten for Mark, “At the end of 307, Mark is at his absolute lowest,” Kirkman began. “He has seen other versions of himself decimate the planet. Everyone is turned against him. He is participating in the rebuilding effort, but he feels more guilt than he has ever felt in his life.”

As for Conquest’s arrival, he’s only going to make things worse for Mark from here on out, “And Conquest shows up. So he’s in this unique head space.He’s backed into a corner. The world is already in shambles, and Cecil calls [Conquest] ‘Mr. 10 Times Worse.’ We’ve been hinting at this character’s arrival since season 2, when Anissa warned that he was going to be coming, and now he’s here. So it’s going to get even worse somehow.”

Now that conquest is finally here, it’s time for fans to see what this villains is really about as Invincible Season 3 comes to an end.

HT – EW

The post Invincible Star Talks Walking Dead Reunion After Joining Season 3 as Conquest appeared first on ComicBook.com.

About fifteen years ago, AMC’s The Walking Dead became a regular fixture of many fan’s daily lives. It was one of the most iconic shows of all time and nearly as impactful as Game of Thrones – it was impossible to not stop whatever you were doing to watch the new episode of the week. But one still stands out because it made everyone realize the new direction the show was about to take after several seasons. At some point, the plot of The Walking Dead started to focus less on the zombies and more on the post-apocalyptic world and human rivalries. It was a logical path considering everyone’s fighting for survival and anything goes. But when a new antagonist showed up, it really showed what that meant.

With 17 million people tuning in in the US alone, the season 7 premiere of The Walking Dead stopped everything in its tracks, with events that would stay with fans for a long time. Negan’s introduction was unforgettable, leaving every viewer in total shock. The problem is, for many, the response wasn’t so great, with some feeling like the show had crossed the line.

“The Day Will Come When You Won’t Be” Went Too Far for The Walking Dead

Episode 1 of Season 7 was the continuation of a very strategic cliffhanger that left The Walking Dead fans anxious. When Negan showed up with his New World Order proposal in the season 6 finale, it became clear that Rick’s group wasn’t just facing a new storyline but one of TV’s greatest villains. This is a crucial point for the show because it’s from this new enemy that fans realize anything can happen – even to the protagonist. The season finale kicks off with a game of “eeny, meeny, miny, moe” to decide which member of Rick’s group will be killed after their trip to Hilltop is stopped. However, the victim’s point of view is all that’s shown, and it’s in “The Day Will Come When You Won’t Be” that the audience finds out who was killed by Neegan.

The whole episode focuses solely on this moment, building the drama and suspense. It picks up a few minutes after the mysterious death, with Rick in complete shock, forced to accompany Negan for a private chat. The sense of anguish is huge from the start, even though Rick’s been through horrific experiences, nothing seems as traumatic as the recent murder of one of his friends. It’s obvious how stunned he is despite threatening Negan, all but confirming that the victim wasn’t just a background character.

Soon after, Negan speaks to Rick in a challenging tone inside a trailer while flashbacks of emotional moments with each member of Rick’s group are shown on screen. It’s a clear way to stir up more emotion and even mentally prepare the audience for when the victim is revealed – so it could have been anyone. When you least expect it, the scene cuts back to the group kneeling, marking a final flashback, with the villain holding Lucille, his bat. After the game of chance to decide who will be killed, the weapon is aimed at Abraham, and his head is bashed until he dies. But that’s where The Walking Dead goes too far.

[RELATED: 10 Best Episodes of The Walking Dead]

The assumption was that Negan would only commit one atrocity, but the audience is caught off guard. There are a few seconds to prepare for Abraham’s death, but even then, there’s a sense of relief since Abraham had only joined the series in season 4, so fans had less time to form an emotional bond with him. Abraham being the victim didn’t seem too bad, but then Negan unexpectedly smashes Glenn’s head – a punishment for Daryl punching him.

The problem is that the violence of the moment breaks the pattern, going beyond the limits of what the series had shown before. The force of the blows are so brutal that he crushes Glenn’s skull and even pops out one of his eyes. The image is disturbing and horrifying, especially with the amount of blood. At that point, The Walking Dead no longer feels like a thriller but an explicit horror show. But it doesn’t stop there – Negan continues the attack until there’s practically nothing left of Glenn’s head, leaving a mass of bone, brain, and flesh, with the body writhing on the ground.

The Walking Dead had always been a show that spared certain details, but this time, the graphic violence was excessive, and not all viewers liked it. Some even criticized the series and gave up on the show afterward. However, there was a reason for this. The scene stayed true to the comics, aiming to deliver the same intensity and emotional impact. Greg Nicotero, the episode’s director, even talked about how difficult it was to film such brutality but emphasized that it was crucial to the show’s narrative. Still, it’s undeniable: the episode was a pivotal moment that continues to haunt The Walking Dead fans to this day.

Steven Yeun and Jeffrey Dean Morgan Shared Thoughts on the Episode

Not long after the The Walking Dead episode aired, Steven Yeun commented on the scene and his character at the 2017 Walker Stalker Con. “Maybe we did it too far. It was pretty bad but we did it and people remember it, so it’s cool,” he said. The impact of the scene is hard to absorb right away, but then comes the sadness for those who have followed the character since season 1. Glenn’s history with Maggie, leaving behind a son, and his last words, make everything even worse. However, Yeun confessed that it was great that his character had gained such a foothold that his death affected the audience so intensely.

For Jeffrey Dean Morgan, the situation was a little different, especially since playing a villain like Negan means knowing that there will always be people who can’t separate reality from fiction. A lot of time passed, and the character went in search of redemption and reconciliation with his past in the spin-off The Walking Dead: Dead City. However, the actor has admitted that he still hears fans of the series blame him.

The Walking Dead is still an iconic piece of pop culture. Even with its ups and downs over time, as the story took new directions with the departure of some much-loved characters, and its success gradually diminished. But it’s still incredible to realize how much a single episode made a mark on fans and dared to go beyond the limits of the series and change the course of the characters forever. Glenn’s death may have been devastating, but it truly was a huge turning point.

The Walking Dead is available to stream on Netflix.

The post This Episode of The Walking Dead Is When It Went Too Far appeared first on ComicBook.com.

Maggie and Negan are back in the New York groove. Two years have passed since we last saw Lauren Cohan and Jeffrey Dean Morgan’s enemies-turned-allies-turned-enemies in the pitch-black concrete jungle of New York City, when they traveled together into zombie-plagued Manhattan to rescue Maggie’s son Hershel (Logan Kim). After setting a nebulous 2025 release date, AMC announced on Tuesday that The Walking Dead: Dead City season 2 will premiere Sunday, May 4, at 9pm ET/PT on AMC and AMC+.

In addition to the premiere date, AMC released the opening minutes of the eight-episode season, which you can watch below.

RELATED: How to Watch All The Walking Dead Shows in Order in 2025

Set to the tune of Hello’s “New York Groove,” the first two minutes show the Burazi — the Manhattan-based gang headed by the Croat (Željko Ivanek), bankrolled by The Dama (Lisa Emery), and which recruited the leather-jacketed Negan (Morgan) for a brewing gang war — using a reinforced dump truck to collect the rotting denizens still roaming the streets.

They then feed the corpses into tanks to produce energy sourced from the island’s most abundant natural resource: death. By using the methane released as bodies break down, and then turning that gas into liquid fuel, the Croat can generate electricity — enough to turn the lights back on in the City That Never Sleeps.

According to the synopsis for Dead City season 2, “In the growing war for control of Manhattan, Maggie and Negan find themselves trapped on opposite sides. As their paths intertwine, they come to see that the way out for both is more complicated and harrowing than they ever imagined.”

Along with Cohan and Morgan reprising their roles from The Walking Dead, returning cast members include Ivanek as the Croat, Emery as The Dama, Kim as Hershel Greene, Gaius Charles as Marshal Perlie Armstrong, and Mahina Anne Marie Napoleon as Ginny. Dascha Polanco (Orange Is the New Black) has been cast as new character named Lucia Narvaez, and Kim Coates (Sons of Anarchy) as rival gang leader Bruegel.

Series creator Eli Jorné, who has been a writer and co-executive producer on The Walking Dead for multiple seasons, returns as showrunner and executive producer on the series. The executive producers are The Walking Dead Universe chief content officer Scott M. Gimple (The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live), Cohan, Morgan, Brian Bockrath (The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon), Michael Satrazemis (Fear the Walking Dead), and Colin Walsh (NOS4A2).

The Walking Dead: Dead City season 1 is streaming now on AMC+, and season 2 premieres May 4.

The post The Walking Dead: Dead City Season 2 Release Date Set With Electrifying First Minutes appeared first on ComicBook.com.

Over the years, Dead by Daylight has featured content based on a number of different horror properties. There has been one glaring omission however, and that’s The Walking Dead. For whatever reason, Behaviour Interactive has not been able to make it happen, despite strong demand from the fan community. There has been no greater advocate for this than an account on X/Twitter that goes by the handle “Rick Grimes for DBD.” The account has long been fighting to get the star of The Walking Dead added as a survivor in the game. The account has even called in some help from one of the stars of the AMC series.

In The Walking Dead, actor Chandler Riggs portrayed Carl, the son of Rick Grimes. Riggs has an account on Cameo, and the actor received an interesting request through the platform. The Rick Grimes for DbD account enlisted the actor to help him campaign for Rick in the game, with Carl Grimes as a Legendary skin. Not only did Riggs accept the request, he revealed in the video that he’s actually a big Dead by Daylight fan himself. According to Riggs, he’s spent “like 500 hours” on the game on PC.

Dead by Daylight fans will have to wait and see if the Cameo recording achieves its goal. However, the video has at least gotten the attention of the official Dead by Daylight X/Twitter account. The account quoted and shared the video to its 1.2 million followers, stating that “it’s always so nice to make new Dead by Daylight friends outside of The Fog.” They also thanked the Rick Grimes for DBD account for making the moment happen.

If the developers at Behaviour Interactive weren’t already aware of the demand for characters from The Walking Dead in Dead by Daylight, they certainly are now! In fact, the post sharing the video of Chandler Riggs resulted in not only increased calls for content based on the series, but many Dead by Daylight fans are now convinced that this is evidence that the collaboration is happening. For now, we’ll all have to wait and see if that pans out.

RELATED: Dead by Daylight Mobile Officially Shutting Down

While fans are currently awaiting news of a Walking Dead collaboration, they’ll have to settle for a bunch of content based on Resident Evil, instead. Earlier this month, 2v8 mode returned to the game, alongside the arrivals of The Nemesis and The Mastermind (Albert Wesker). The game also added the Raccoon City Police Department to the map rotation, and Herbs from the video game series. All in all, it’s a pretty sizable collaboration, and for fans of Resident Evil, it’s a great excuse to try Dead by Daylight for the first time. If The Walking Dead ever does get a collaboration, hopefully it gets a similar treatment!

Would you like to see content based on The Walking Dead in Dead by Daylight? Which characters would you want to see added? Share your thoughts with me directly on Bluesky at @Marcdachamp, or on Instagram at @Dachampgaming!

The post The Walking Dead Star Wants Rick Grimes in Dead by Daylight appeared first on ComicBook.com.

Colman Domingo is singing the praises of Fear the Walking Dead. The two-time Oscar-nominated actor — who will compete at the 2025 Oscars in the Best Actor category for his role as John “Divine G” Whitfield in Sing Sing — revealed that he almost quit acting before he was cast as ruthless survivor Victor Strand in the Walking Dead spinoff series set at the onset of the zombie apocalypse. Domingo, who joined the first season in 2015, was the only cast member to appear in all eight seasons of the AMC zombie drama that aired its final season in 2023.

“I was a theater snob. I was like, ‘Absolutely not,'” Domingo said of his initial reaction to the series on the Happy Sad Confused podcast. His agent approached him with what was being described as “the precursor to The Walking Dead,” the record-breaking cable show adapting the Image comics by writer Robert Kirkman and artists Tony Moore and Charlie Adlard.

RELATED: How to Watch All The Walking Dead Shows in Order in 2025

“I was like, ‘What’s that?'” Domingo recalled. “They said, ‘You don’t know The Walking Dead? It’s a huge show on AMC.’ I’m like, ‘I don’t watch TV.’ And so I know I really had an attitude when she said, ‘After seeing the script, I think you would really like this.'”

“Immediately, I thought, ‘Obviously this person does not know me, because she’s going to send me some genre thing, some TV thing I’m not interested in.’ She sends me the sides, and it was fantastic,” Domingo continued. “I didn’t know TV could be like this. It was rich, it was great storytelling, and a really provocative character. I had a take on the character, so I sent that tape in without even thinking about it. And then literally a couple days later, I got an offer — just from a self tape — to be a series regular on Fear the Walking Dead.”

Created by Kirkman and original showrunner Dave Erickson, AMC launched Fear in 2015 as a companion series to The Walking Dead (then the #1 show on television among adults 18-49). At first set in Los Angeles in the earliest days of the walker apocalypse, the series also starred Kim Dickens, Cliff Curtis, Frank Dillane, Alycia Debnam-Carey, Lorenzo James Henrie and Elizabeth Rodriguez as a dysfunctional blended family who first encounter the shady Strand while escaping LA.

As the series changed locations and cast members — moving to Mexico, Texas, and Georgia, with Garret Dillahunt, Maggie Grace, Jenna Elfman, and The Walking Dead‘s Lennie James all joining the creatively rebooted show in season 4 — Domingo was there for it all, even undergoing a turn as the villain in season 7 before his redemption arc in the eighth and final season.

“[Fear the Walking Dead] literally did change my entire career,” Domingo said. “Just before that, I thought I had achieved what I was supposed to achieve, and I was kindly ready to step away from the whole industry. Things were just not progressing the way I thought that made sense. I wasn’t booking [roles], I wasn’t working, I had no access or agency, and I was entering my mid-forties. I was like, ‘I can’t sustain this. I need to get a real job.’ Or at least a job that makes sense. The life of an artist was just too rocky for me at the time, and I was trying to make a decision where I wouldn’t be bitter or hardened by this industry. I wanted to step away while I still loved it, but then Fear the Walking Dead gave me footing back in the industry in a new way.”

Following his roles in the Steven Spielberg-directed Lincoln (2012), opposite Chadwick Boseman in the Jackie Robinson biographical sports drama 42 (2013), Lee Daniels’ The Butler (2013), and Ava DuVernay’s Selma (2014), Domingo went on to star with Zendaya in HBO’s Euphoria and won his first Emmy for his role as Ali. Domingo was also nominated at last year’s Oscars for his role as civil rights activist Bayard Rustin in Netflix’s Rustin.

Domingo currently voices Norman Osborn in the Marvel Animation series Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man, and his upcoming projects include Edgar Wright’s Running Man remake starring Glen Powell, Antoine Fuqua’s Michael Jackson biopic Michael, and the Russo brothers-directed sci-fi film The Electric State starring Millie Bobby Brown and Chris Pratt.

The post Oscar Nominee Colman Domingo Nearly Quit Acting Before Fear the Walking Dead: “It Changed My Entire Career” appeared first on ComicBook.com.

The Walking Dead has always been a show ahead of its time. When it premiered in 2010, the zombie genre had been beaten into the ground but the scale and production of the series was something that hadn’t been explored before. While it was based on a comic series, it quickly built a massive cult following due to its visual effects and character-driven storylines on a cable network. Where long-running dramas like Supernatural and The Vampire Diaries ended with the streaming era in full force, The Walking Dead remained.

Because of that, AMC produced 11 seasons of the show that spawned several spinoffs. Those include Dead City, The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon, The Ones Who Live, Fear the Walking Dead, and The Walking Dead: World Beyond. With 177 episodes, it’s hard to choose the “best” among them, however, there are ones that have a lasting cultural impact.

“The Killer Within” – Season 3, Episode 4

As opposed to some of the other deaths on the show and on this list, Lori’s was particularly heartbreaking. After maneuvering through the apocalypse nine months pregnant, she was forced to have a life-threatening Caesarian in the middle of a hoard of walkers. With her fate sealed in order to save her unborn child, she says her goodbyes to Carl, “You’re the best thing I ever did.”

While she bleeds out, Judith is born. As if this wasn’t emotionally taxing enough on poor Carl, he must shoot his mom in the head to prevent her from reanimating.

“18 Miles Out” – Season 2, Episode 10

Rick and Shane’s relationship transforms a lot in the first two seasons. By the middle of Season 2, they’ve reached a tipping point. By then we know Lori was having an affair with Shane. When he pops back up, Shane uses this secret as “leverage” which makes him feel all the more untouchable. But Rick doesn’t let him get away with it.

In fact, he informs Shane that he knew about the baby and the affair which indicates to Shane he doesn’t view him as a threat at all. The thing is, by this point, Shane was lethal and looking for any way to get Rick out of the picture. Rick eventually gets the upper hand, though.

“Here’s Negan” – Season 10, Episode 22

When Andrew Lincoln left The Walking Dead, they needed a character that could carry the weight of the series and, for better or worse, that was Negan. Humans are complex beings and Negan is certainly not exempt from it. “Here’s Negan” is one of Jeffrey Dean Morgan’s best performances in the show.

His complexities are on full display: a husband caring for his sick wife dying of cancer who was also cheating on her with her best friend. Once he finds out about the diagnosis, he cuts things off to care for Lucille until her final breath, ultimately taking her own life. This sets Negan on a warpath and, by the time he’s done, the old Negan is dead. Who is left standing is the heartless, careless, dictator viewers meet in Season 6.

“A” – Season 4, Episode 16

Rick is forced to make a rash decision when his family is threatened while on their journey to Terminus. While trying to save Carl and Michonne, who are defenseless, Daryl is inadvertently added to the mix. So what does Rick do? He rips the throat out of the leader, Joe. It’s got everything you want in The Walking Dead — it’s gory, intense, and induces the nail-biting nerves you want in a thriller drama series.

“No Way Out” – Season 6, Episode 9

Season 6 is considered by many to be a “weaker” season of the series, but following the midseason finale, things really picked back up. The electricity and intensity of everyone involved fighting to save Alexandria was adrenaline pumping. The group is battling the Saviors and it seems like it might be the end of the road for them. However, they stick to their plan and find a way out — not completely unscathed, though. Carl does lose his eye and he goes unconscious, leaving a lot of uncertainty. By the end, he regains consciousness and looks pretty badass with an eyepatch.

[RELATED: How to Watch All The Walking Dead Shows in Order in 2025]

“The Grove” – Season 4, Episode 14

“Look at the flowers, Lizzie,” is a line that will stick with me for the rest of my life. This episode draws inspiration from the Of Mice and Men novel, and deviates from TWD source material in the best way. The acting here is top-notch, especially from Brighton Sharbino, who portrayed Lizzie.

It dives into how battling mental illness would look in an apocalyptic setting, as Lizzie became increasingly more unstable. While Lizzie believes the Walkers to just be “different,” her sister Mika doesn’t feel the same. Lizzie ends up stabbing her sister to death and Carol has to make the decision to kill Lizzie to spare Judith.

“Honor” – Season 8, Episode 9

Carl’s sacrifice in Season 8 is a storyline that has stuck with fans since its premiere. Throughout his arc, he went from a boy doing everything to please his father to a young man who, with Rick’s influence, formed his own identity. He saw the complex nature of humanity and did everything in his power to sway the group to make more thoughtful, peaceful decisions.

Negan set their home of Alexandria ablaze and its residents were left fighting for a way out. Carl had gotten Siddiq to safety but in doing so he was bit by a Walker. It was only a matter of time before he turned. His death was largely unnecessary and frustrating given that he makes it to the end of the comics, but it drives the plot home for Rick in the show. Plus, everyone’s performances in his final scenes — especially Danai Gurira — are stunning.

“No Sanctuary” – Season 5, Episode 1

When Carol was first introduced, she appeared timid and meek, but she continuously proved in the earlier seasons she was not to be underestimated. The Season 5 premiere was one of those examples when she saved the group from the cannibals at Terminus. Carol blows up the fences surrounding the compound and enters disguised as a walker, slaughtering everything in her path. After a battle to the death, she comes out on top, covered in blood. Melissa McBride is a major MVP for The Walking Dead and this was one of many showcases of why.

“Days Gone Bye” – Season 1, Episode 1

A list without the episode that kicked off the entire Universe feels way too blasphemous. 15 years later, this is still one of the highest-rated episodes of the entire show, and for good reason. Not only does it have that rewatch value, but it perfectly set up what the show was going to be in that timeframe. Lincoln waking up from a coma to see the world in complete disarray? Zombies among the living? It’s stunning and raw, in part thanks to Lincoln’s performance, with a bit of nostalgia all wrapped up tightly with a bow.

“Last Day on Earth” – Season 6, Episode 16

Negan’s intro into The Walking Dead Universe remains one of the most iconic. If you’re going to bring in a big bad, why wouldn’t he kill off a few fan favorites? This decision was one of the most polarizing at the time. Jeffrey Dean Morgan’s performance solidified him as one of television’s greatest villains.

Glenn’s brutal death was completely shocking to fans and is still one that’s heavily debated about whether it was necessary or not. It caused a lot of fans to stop watching altogether. One positive, though, is that Maggie went from a plot device to a character wholly her own by the time the show concluded.

The post 10 Best Episodes of The Walking Dead appeared first on ComicBook.com.

Warning: This article contains spoilers for The Walking Dead season 2. The Walking Dead is about life-or-death choices — like choosing to head into zombie-overrun Atlanta or embarking on a 125-mile journey to Fort Benning. After the CDC proves to be a literal dead end, the group of Atlanta survivors led by Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln) choose to try for the military base in the second season premiere of The Walking Dead, and what lies ahead are more fateful choices that will set the course for the mostly farm-set season.

Does the caravan turn back when travel is impeded by a thousand-car pileup that turned the highway into a graveyard, or try to maneuver around? When Dale’s (Jeffrey DeMunn) RV dies, do they scavenge the dead-filled cars, or forego necessary supplies because Lori Grimes (Sarah Wayne Callies) is uncomfortable with “grave-robbing”? When a walker herd descends upon the highway, they have no choice but to scurry under the cars for cover.

RELATED: How to Watch All The Walking Dead Shows in Order in 2025

The biggest “what-would-you-do” question comes when Carol’s (Melissa McBride) 12-year-old daughter, Sophia (Madison Lintz), is scared out of her hiding place by clawing walkers and runs off into the woods. Rick’s first choice is to chase after Sophia, and his second choice is to avoid shooting the walkers to avoid alerting the highway herd. Rick’s third choice is to hide the girl so he can draw the walkers away and dispatch them with a rock.

“They don’t get winded. I do,” Rick tells Sophia. “I can only deal with them one at a time. I wouldn’t be able to protect you. This is how we both survive.” Rick instructs Sophia about what to do if he doesn’t make it back: run back to the others on the highway, straight the way they came, and “keep the sun on your left shoulder.”

By the time Rick returns to the creek, Sophia is missing. She never made it back to the highway, causing Daryl (Norman Reedus), Glenn (Steven Yeun), and Shane (Jon Bernthal) to investigate with Rick. “I figured she just took off and ran back to the group,” Rick says. “I told her to go that way and keep the sun on her left shoulder.” Shane questions whether a scared little girl could have followed Rick’s instructions, but he insists she understood.

The group is then forced to make another choice: search for Sophia or move on. Daryl heads tracking Sophia, but the trail goes cold, and the search party returns to the highway empty handed. “How could you just leave her out there to begin with? How could you just leave her?” Carol questions Rick, who explains that drawing the walkers away from Sophia was her best chance. Shane says Rick “didn’t have a choice,” but Carol isn’t convinced.

“How was she supposed to find her way back on her own? She’s just a child,” Carol cries. Rick responds, “It was my only option. The only choice I could make.” The seven-episode search for Sophia ultimately ends in tragedy when a bitten and zombified Sophia steps out of the barn on the Greene family farm in the “Pretty Much Dead Already” midseason finale, leaving fans to ask: Did Rick make the right choice leaving Sophia?

“It was Rick’s fault,” one user argues on a debate-stirring post published to Reddit. Another user counters, “Rick was the least responsible for what happened to Sophia. He is the only one who reacted quickly in that moment and ran after her, if anyone else in that group had his quick thinking, she’d be alive. He did the best he could with the survival tools he had at that point in time — barely two weeks after waking up from his coma.”

Daryl was busy tending to an injured T-Dog (IronE Singleton) and Andrea (Laurie Holden) was trapped in the RV bathroom by a walker, the post adds, leaving other members of the group without an excuse for not going after Sophia. “Rick is definitely not in the wrong in the slightest,” another user argues, defending the decision to leave a hidden Sophia.

“He did the best he could given the situation,” reads another reply. “It’s impossible for the characters to blame [Sophia] for her own demise but we can.” As users debated Sophia’s choice to immediately run away instead of waiting for Rick’s return, half the replies blamed Rick for Sophia’s fate, and the other half defended Rick’s decision-making.

But the best defense is from Rick’s wife, Lori: “You have got to stop blaming Rick. It is in your face every time you look at him,” she tells Carol. “When Sophia ran he didn’t hesitate, did he? Not for a second. I don’t know that any of us would have gone after her the way he did, or made the hard decisions that he had to make, or that anybody could have done it any differently.”

Lori concludes, “You all look to him and then you blame him when he’s not perfect.”

The Walking Dead is now streaming on Netflix.

The post The Walking Dead Fans Blame Rick Grimes for Sophia’s Fate appeared first on ComicBook.com.

The Walking Dead #105 is a real eye-opener. Originally printed in 2012, it’s the first issue to go inside the Sanctuary, a former steel mill converted into a base for Negan’s Saviors. Just issues after bashing in Glenn’s brains with his barbed wire-wrapped baseball bat, a cordial Negan takes Carl Grimes on a tour of the Sanctuary and introduces the boy to his harem of lingerie-clad wives. Negan then forces Carl to remove the bandage covering his missing eye, makes him sing a song while menacing him with his bat Lucille, and has Carl watch as he maims an insubordinate Savior with a scalding hot iron.

It’s shown that Negan coerces women into being his “wives” rather than have them work for points to survive like the rest of the Saviors. “When I choose a new wife, the process is completely voluntary,” Negan explains. “It’s an honor to be with me, to no longer have to trade points to trade for goods and services. But it comes with a price: total devotion. And that can sometimes be a hard pill for others to swallow. But swallow it they must… or it’s the iron for you.”

RELATED: The Walking Dead Reveals New Villain Cut From the Series

When Negan’s “wife” Amber is caught with her former boyfriend Mark, he provokes Negan’s ire — and his iron.

Negan reminds Amber that her position is “completely voluntary,” telling the crying girl, “I don’t want anyone here if they don’t want to be.” But if Amber leaves him for Mark, Negan warns, “You’ll forfeit your privileges and go back to whatever job you had before Sherry brought you to us, but you can.”

What she can’t do, he screams, is cheat on him. “So what’s it going to be? You going back to Mark? Back to earning points? Working for your supper? Or are you staying?” A sobbing Amber is bullied into staying and Mark is scarred publicly to “forever bear the shame of his actions on his face.”

“I’d say more than anything else, at least on social media, the harem became one of the most controversial aspects of this comic,” Kirkman writes in the colorized reprint version of The Walking Dead Deluxe #105. “Even more than some of the upcoming bits with The Whisperers, which always surprised me. I certainly have a line I won’t cross. No pun intended.”

“You can look to Garth Ennis’ Crossed series to see a far more brutal and unforgiving exploration of the apocalypse,” Kirkman continued, referring to the comic that depicts graphic acts of stomach-turning depravity. “The Walking Dead is EXTREMELY tame by comparison, but that was by design. The harsh elements that did make it in, I always tried to make sure they were a reflection of life. I’d always argue no matter how dark things got in this series, you could always pick up a newspaper and read far more gruesome things happening for real.”

“The world is a dark place, and I didn’t want to shy away from portraying that for fear of offending anyone,” Kirkman concluded.

The Walking Dead Deluxe #105 is on sale now from Image Comics.

The post The Walking Dead Creator Robert Kirkman Addresses Controversial Negan Issue appeared first on ComicBook.com.

The Walking Dead Universe lives on Netflix. The Andrew Lincoln and Danai Gurira-fronted spinoff The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live was added to the streaming service on Jan. 13, nearly a year after the limited series first aired on AMC and AMC+, joining a library that includes all 11 seasons of the mothership series that splintered into new shows.

Dead City tracked Lauren Cohan’s Maggie and Jeffrey Dean Morgan’s Negan to New York City, Daryl Dixon followed Norman Reedus’ Daryl and Melissa McBride’s Carol overseas to France, and The Ones Who Live reunited Gurira’s Michonne and Lincoln’s Rick Grimes at the Civic Republic in Philadelphia.

Meanwhile, AMC expanded the wider universe with spinoffs Fear the Walking Dead, The Walking Dead: World Beyond, and the anthology series Tales of the Walking Dead, which are mostly standalone except for a few crossovers. (Fear imported Lennie James’ Morgan, Austin Amelio’s Dwight, and Christine Evangelista’s Sherry from The Walking Dead, while Pollyanna McIntosh’s Jadis bridged The Walking Dead and World Beyond as a member of the organization linking the shows together: the Civic Republic Military.)

While it’s all connected in TWD Universe, you won’t find all seven series in one place. You’ll need subscriptions for multiple streaming services to watch every Walking Dead series in release order, which we’ve listed below.

The Walking Dead (Seasons 1-11)

The original series follows Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln) and his group of survivors in the walker apocalypse — Daryl (Norman Reedus), Carol (Melissa McBride), Glenn (Steven Yeun), Maggie (Lauren Cohan), and Michonne (Danai Gurira) among them — as they fight the dead and fear the living, like the Governor (David Morrissey) and Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan).

Where to watch: Netflix

Fear the Walking Dead (Seasons 1-8)

Originally set in Los Angeles during the early days of the apocalypse, Fear followed the dysfunctional family of Madison Clark (Kim Dickens), her children Nick (Frank Dillane) and daughter Alicia (Alycia Debnam-Carey), partner Travis Manawa (Cliff Curtis), and his son, Chris (Lorenzo Henrie). Later seasons saw The Walking Dead‘s Morgan Jones (Lennie James) join the ensemble cast in a crossover with the flagship.

Where to watch: Netflix and AMC+

The Walking Dead: World Beyond (Seasons 1-2)

Ten years after society fell, a group of teenagers sheltered from the dangers of the post-apocalyptic world receive a message that inspires them to leave the safety of the only home they have ever known and embark on a cross-country journey. Along the way, sisters Iris (Aliyah Royale) and Hope (Alexa Mansour), joined by friends Elton (Nicholas Cantu) and Silas (Hal Cumpston), uncover the secrets of the shadowy Civic Republic Military in the two-season limited series.

Where to watch: AMC+

Tales of the Walking Dead (Season 1)

Anthology series Tales of the Walking Dead features a star-studded cast with new stories set throughout the Walking Dead timeline. Besides an origin story for Alpha (Samantha Morton) of the Whisperers, the genre-bending six-episode series introduces Joe (Terry Crews), Evie (Olivia Munn), Blair (Parker Posey), Gina (Jillian Bell), Amy (Poppy Liu), Dr. Everett (Anthony Edwards), Davon (Jessie T. Usher), Idalia (Daniella Pineda) and Eric (Danny Ramirez).

Where to watch: AMC+

The Walking Dead: Dead City (Season 1)

Picking up years after the events of The Walking Dead‘s final season, the spinoff follows enemies Maggie (Lauren Cohan) and Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) as they travel to post-apocalyptic Manhattan – a crumbling city filled with the dead and denizens who have made it a world full of anarchy, danger, beauty, and terror — on a mission to rescue Maggie’s son, Hershel (Logan Kim), from The Croat (Željko Ivanek).

Where to watch: AMC+

The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon (Season 1)

After The Walking Dead season 11, Daryl (Norman Reedus) finds himself transported overseas and stranded in France in The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon. To get home, he agrees to escort Laurent (Louis Puech Scigliuzzi) to safety at The Nest on the French coast, a dangerous mission that makes them a target of Marion Genet (Anne Charrier) and her paramilitary group, Pouvoir des Vivants.

Where to watch: Netflix and AMC+

The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live (Season 1)

Years after Rick’s (Andrew Lincoln) disappearance in The Walking Dead season 9 — when Jadis (Pollyanna McIntosh) secretly shuttled him away from his loved ones aboard a CRM helicopter — he’s been conscripted into the Civic Republic Military, a fate from which he’s unable to escape. Meanwhile, Rick’s wife Michonne (Danai Gurira) embarks on her own mission to find Rick and bring him home after learning he was alive in The Walking Dead season 10.

Where to watch: Netflix and AMC+

The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon – The Book of Carol (Season 2)

Carol (Melissa McBride) departs for France after learning that best friend Daryl (Norman Reedus) was transported overseas in The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon season 1. The six-episode second season, titled The Book of Carol, sees Daryl and Carol struggle to reunite as they come under threat from Madame Genet (Anne Charrier) and an army of amped-up walkers.

Where to watch: AMC+

The post How to Watch All The Walking Dead Shows in Order in 2025 appeared first on ComicBook.com.

A brand new week is upon us, and it is set to be another week filled with exciting new additions on Netflix. Six of the next seven days will see the streaming giant add titles to its ever-growing lineup in the United States, including the first season of a hit zombie series and the official comeback of one of Hollywood’s most popular stars.

Things will kick off on Monday, January 13th when Netflix continues its partnership with AMC. The streamer will be adding the entire first season of The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live on that day. The Ones Who Live is a spinoff/sequel series that follows the story of Rick and Michonne after the conclusion of The Walking Dead.

On Friday, Netflix will be premiering the original film Back in Action, which stars Cameron Diaz and Jamie Foxx. This will be the first on-screen role for Diaz since she and Foxx starred in the Annie remake back in 2014.

You can check out the full rundown of this week’s Netflix additions below!

Monday, January 13th

The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live: Season 1

Tuesday, January 14th

Ari Shaffir: America’s Sweetheart — NETFLIX COMEDY SPECIAL

Single’s Inferno: Season 4 (KR) — NETFLIX SERIES
A new batch of singles enter Inferno for a chance at love. With romance, competition and heartbreak on the line, who will succeed in finding the one?

[RELATED: 10 Video Games Being Adapted to Movies and TV]

Wednesday, January 15th

Hereditary
Krapopolis: Season 1

Public Disorder (IT) — NETFLIX SERIES
An incident sparks internal conflict as members of a riot squad juggle personal worries with the daily tension of police work on the streets.

Thursday, January 16th

XO, Kitty: Season 2 — NETFLIX SERIES
Kitty Song Covey is back in Seoul for a new semester at KISS, where she will learn that life, family and love are more complicated than she ever imagined.

Friday, January 17th

Back in Action — NETFLIX FILM
Years after giving up life as CIA spies to start a family, Emily and Matt find themselves dragged back into the world of espionage when their cover is blown.

Love Is Blind: Germany (DE) — NETFLIX SERIES (new episodes)
The experiment comes to Germany as local singles seek true love and a commitment that lasts a lifetime, all before meeting each other face-to-face.

Young, Famous & African: Season 3 (ZA) — NETFLIX SERIES
Africa’s elite are back to the glitz, gossip, and cutting shade of their opulent inner circle, where luxury meets legacy — and drama rules the day.

Saturday, January 18th

SAKAMOTO DAYS (JP) — NETFLIX ANIME (new episodes)
Once the greatest hitman of all, Taro Sakamoto retired in the name of love. But when his past catches up, he must fight to protect his beloved family.

The post Everything Coming to Netflix This Week (January 13th) appeared first on ComicBook.com.

Over 193 issues, Rick Grimes and the survivors of The Walking Dead encountered the worst of humanity. From villains like The Governor, Negan, and Alpha, to enemy groups like the Hunters, the Scavengers, the Saviors, and the Whisperers, series creator Robert Kirkman filled the pages of his zombie comic with the real threat of the walker apocalypse: the living. But in this week’s The Walking Dead Deluxe #104 — a colorized version of the 2012 issue — Kirkman’s original notes revealed plans for a villain named “The Contractor.”

“That, ladies and gentlemen, is an unrealized villain for the series,” Kirkman wrote in the “Cutting Room Floor” section of the issue. “I don’t recall details on this particular villain. Cool name.”

“Kind of [a] shame it never made it into the book,” Kirkman added. “Some day I’ll have to tell everyone about ‘The Gardener.'”

RELATED: Robert Kirkman Named a Major Walking Dead Villain After His School Bully: “F*** That Guy”

Kirkman explained his plotting process in the letters column of the 2012 edition, writing he had “a solid plot through issue 200 and general ideas that could continue after that.” (The series concluded with The Walking Dead #193 in 2019.)

“I’m at a point with the series where I plot in 24 issue chunks, loosely,” Kirkman wrote, “and then flesh things out as I write. I try to have at least four of those chunks planned, but there are times when a new chunk of issues is dropped in and things get pushed back. That’s why I have such far-reaching plans.”

Those plans often changed. In The Walking Dead Deluxe #98, Kirkman revealed that the issue’s major death was a “last-minute change” from how he originally plotted the issue.

“I like having as much track laid ahead of me as possible. So I’m always plotting ‘ifs’,” he wrote. “‘If I get to issue No. 30, maybe this,’ and ‘if I get to issue No. 50, maybe this.’ I leave myself options, so I always have some plans I can build to. But I’m careful to always leave myself room to just shoot from the hip and do whatever I want month to month, no matter how crazy the issue. [#98] was one of those issues.”

Issue #104 takes place during Volume 18: What Comes After, when the Alexandrians are forced to be subservient to Negan and the Saviors. As Jesus of the Hilltop follows Dwight to the Sanctuary, a young Carl Grimes stows away on a Saviors caravan and opens fire on Negan and his men to avenge Glenn (who was beaten to death by Negan issues earlier in #100).

The Walking Dead Deluxe #104 is on sale now from Image Comics.

The post The Walking Dead Reveals New Villain Cut From the Series appeared first on ComicBook.com.

“Do there have to be zombies?” That’s what an NBC executive reportedly asked Frank Darabont, the Oscar-nominated writer-director of The Shawshank Redemption and The Green Mile, when the filmmaker pitched a live-action adaptation of Image Comics’ post-apocalyptic zombie comic The Walking Dead. The network, which envisioned the black-and-white horror comic book as a zombie-crime-of-the-week police procedural, was one of multiple networks that kicked the tires on a TV adaptation of the comic book from writer Robert Kirkman and artists Tony Moore and Charlie Adlard. The others: HBO and AMC.

“The honest truth is that Frank Darabont got The Walking Dead made. If Frank Darabont doesn’t go into House of Secrets [comic store] in Burbank and somebody recommends him a Walking Dead comic, I’m not sitting here right now,” Kirkman, who served as an executive producer on the television series, said during a panel at CCXP (via Collider).

[RELATED: Robert Kirkman Named a Walking Dead Villain After His School Bully: “F*** That Guy”]

Launched in 2003, Image published 70 issues of The Walking Dead comic book by the time AMC greenlit a six-episode first season in March 2010. Before announcing TWD as its fourth original series following Mad Men, Breaking Bad, and Rubicon, the cable channel was in a bidding war with premium television network HBO, home to hit dramas Oz, The Wire, and The Sopranos.

“So, I wasn’t in a lot of those meetings. I made a lot of decisions and there’s some behind the scenes stuff that I probably can’t get into,” Kirkman said, “but a lot of those calls were me and my manager trying to navigate the waters of AMC and what they had promised Darabont, what was going on with that. So, I have a lot of visibility into the early days of production on that show, and I will only tell those stories in private.”

The Darabont-directed pilot produced by AMC made few changes to the first issue of Kirkman’s comic book, besides fleshing out police officer Rick Grimes’ encounter with fellow zombie apocalypse survivors Morgan and Duane Jones. While the season would make some deviations from the comic — including a standoff with the Vatos, an episode that marked Kirkman’s first teleplay credit on the series — Kirkman noted AMC’s Walking Dead was more faithful than most television adaptations “because Walking Dead was a very desired project and there was kind of a bidding war between HBO and AMC that was happening.”

“And because of that bidding war, AMC and HBO kind of got into a competition of, ‘We’ll give Robert this.’ ‘No, we’ll give Robert this.’ ‘No, we’ll give Robert this.’ ‘No, we’ll give Robert this,’” Kirkman said. “We just kept going, ‘Well, HBO gave us this,’ and then AMC would go, ‘All right.’ And then to HBO, we’d be like, ‘AMC gave us this,’ and HBO’d go, ‘All right.’”

“I kept getting more access, more control, more involved in the project until I was in the writer’s room, I was full EP, I was with everybody making casting decisions,” he continued. “I was fortunate that those two places wanted it. And if I hadn’t had that, one of those two places probably would have been, ‘I don’t think we need this guy from Kentucky who’s never written television before. Maybe we’ll just go with the Oscar-winning director.’ Being in my own head and knowing what I know about Walking Dead, I was the guy that knew the most, I was pretty valuable in that room.”

Kirkman added, “I understand from their perspective how crazy the creators and authors and people seem. And so I can see their perspective, but at the same time, Walking Dead was a pretty popular show. And I cannot tell you how many times I was in a production meeting or a casting meeting or sitting in the writer’s room going, ‘I did this in the comic, this is how the audience reacted. If we do this in the show, this is how people will react,’ and that stuff was very valuable. So, I would say that there is tremendous value to keeping the original authors and creators involved in every step of the way.”

[RELATED: Robert Kirkman: Invincible-Style Walking Dead Animated Series Can’t Happen “Until I Get the Rights Back From AMC”]

The comic book creator addressed the AMC adaptation in 2010’s The Walking Dead #70, telling readers in the issue’s letters page he had “high hopes” for the just-announced TV series from Darabont and producer Gale Anne Hurd (The Abyss and The Terminator).

“I know you readers out there have concerns for adaptations of your favorite comics,” Kirkman wrote at the time. “Sometimes it works out, sometimes it’s a disaster. But I’m here to say that this one is looking good. It’s as faithful to the comic as I want it to be, meaning, it’s not a panel-for-panel adaptation, but it’s close, close enough that if you enjoy the comic, you’ll enjoy the show and there will still be surprises along the way.”

“I’d hate for you guys to be watching the show knowing that Rick is going to lose a hand next episode, or that Carol is going to die next season,” Kirkman continued. “There will still be surprises, which I think makes it The Walking Dead. If you knew what was coming, it would be boring.”

The Walking Dead pilot, “Days Gone Bye,” was watched by 5.3 million viewers when it premiered on Halloween night 2010 — the largest audience for any original AMC series. When counting 10 p.m., 11:30 p.m., and 1 a.m. airings, the episode’s cumulative total was 8.1 million viewers. “Days Gone Bye” launched with the highest delivery for any cable series premiere that year with 3.6 million viewers in the coveted adult 18-49 demo and spawned an 11-season, 177-episode run on AMC.

The post How a Bidding War Between HBO and AMC Brought The Walking Dead TV Show to Life appeared first on ComicBook.com.

If your name is Phillip and you attended Breckenridge Elementary with Robert Kirkman in Lexington, Kentucky, you’re a dead man. In the latest issue of The Walking Dead Deluxe, the creator recalled naming the comic book’s first major villain after his school bully: The Governor, a sadistic, psychopathic rapist who is ultimately eaten alive by zombies. (In the comics, the Governor’s real name is Brian Blake before he takes his brother Philip’s name. David Morrissey’s version on The Walking Dead television show was Philip Blake and used the name Brian as an alias.)

“In elementary school, the school bully of Breckenridge Elementary in Lexington, Kentucky was a boy named Phillip,” Kirkman wrote in this week’s The Walking Dead Deluxe #101. “So that’s usually my shorthand for sh-tty characters. I will never name a good character Phillip. They will always be a villain to some degree.”

RELATED: The Walking Dead Deluxe #100: Glenn’s Death Is Much More Horrific in Color

“I also have to be careful not to use that name for every bad/sh-tty character across all my books,” the Invincible and Void Rivals writer continued. Kirkman added that Phillip “was just the first instance of a human being I encountered who did mean things for no reason” and it “made an impression.”

“F— that guy,” Kirkman concluded.

Introduced in The Walking Dead #27, the Governor cut off Rick Grimes’ hand in his second appearance, raped Michonne, decapitated Tyreese, executed Hershel, and caused the deaths of Lori and Judith Grimes during an attack on the prison. (Those those are just a few of the atrocities committed by The Walking Dead‘s most twisted villain.) Michonne would eventually get her revenge on the Governor when she mutilated and tortured him to near-death before gouging out his eye with a spoon.

RELATED: The Walking Dead Artist Refused to Draw Controversial Comic Book Issue

“Boy was it a controversial issue,” Kirkman recounted in The Walking Dead Deluxe #33 when the issue was printed in color for the first time in 2022. “I always strived to be as brutal as I believed this world could get and not shy away from things… for better or for worse, that was the intent of [that] issue.”

Kirkman and author Jay Bonansinga fleshed out Brian/Philip’s backstory in four novels published between 2011 and 2014: The Walking Dead: Rise of the Governor, The Walking Dead: The Road to Woodbury, and The Walking Dead: The Fall of the Governor Part One and Part Two.

The Walking Dead Deluxe #101, the latest issue in colorized reprint series, is on sale now from Image Comics.

The post Robert Kirkman Named a Walking Dead Villain After His School Bully: “F*** That Guy” appeared first on ComicBook.com.